Global Governance Initiative: Annual Report 2006

COMMITTED TO
IMPROVING THE STATE

OF THE WORLD
Global Governance Initiative

The World Economic Forum is an independent

international organization committed to improving
the state of the world by engaging leaders in
partnerships to shape global, regional and
industry agendas.
Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based

in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic
Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to
no political, partisan or national interests.
(www.weforum.org)
Annual Report 2006
Annual Report 2006
World Economic Forum

Developed in partnership with
Nike, Inc.
Preface iv
Executive summary v
Introduction ix
Peace and security 1

Poverty and hunger 9
Education 16
Health 22
Environment 29
Human rights 37
The views expressed in the articles in this publication do not necessarily reflect
the views of the World Economic Forum.
© 2006 World Economic Forum
ISBN 0-9741108-9-2
Designed, edited and produced by Communications Development

Incorporated, Washington, D.C., with Grundy Northedge, London
Nike, Inc.
Expert group chairs and members George Alleyne, Director Emeritus, Pan American Health
Peace and security Organization, and Adjunct Professor, Bloomberg School of
Chair: Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group (Australia) Public Health, Johns Hopkins University (Barbados)
Paul Heinbecker, Director, Laurier Centre for Global Relations, Lincoln Chen, Director, Global Equity Initiative, Harvard
Governance and Policy (Canada) University (USA)
Ellen Laipson, President, Henry L. Stimson Center (USA) Tom Coates, Director of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies,
Andrew Mack, Director, Human Security Centre, University of University of California at San Francisco (USA)
British Columbia (Australia) Mahmoud Fathalla, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Jane Nelson, Fellow, Center for Business and Government, John F. Assiut University (Egypt)
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (UK) Rick Steketee, Deputy Director, Program for Appropriate
Mohamed Sahnoun, Special Representative of the UN Secretary- Technology in Health (USA)
General for the Sudan (Algeria) Cesar Victora, Professor of Epidemiology, Federal University of
Ramesh Thakur, Senior Vice-Rector, United Nations University (India) Pelotas (Brazil)
Education Human rights

Chair: Christopher Colclough, Professor, Economics of Chair: Nicholas Howen, Secretary-General, International
Education, and Director, Centre for Commonwealth Commission of Jurists (Australia)
Education, University of Cambridge (UK) Fateh Azzam, Program Director, American University of Cairo
Kai-Ming Cheng, Chair of the Faculty of Education, University of (Egypt)
Hong Kong (Hong Kong) Dr. Margaret Jungk, Senior Adviser, Danish Institute for Human
Marcela Gajardo, Director, Partnership for Educational Rights (Denmark)
Revitalization in the Americas (Chile) Marcia Kran, Professor, University of British Columbia
R. Govinda, Senior Fellow and Head, School and Non-Formal (Hungary)
Education Unit at the National Institute of Educational Chidi Odinkalu, Senior Legal Advisor, Open Society Institute
Planning and Administration (India) (Nigeria)
Amina Ibrahim, Coordinator, National Education-for-All (Nigeria) Usha Ramanathan, Programme Director, International
Anne Jellema, Director, Campaign for Education (South Africa) Environmental Law Research Centre (India)
Gene Sperling, Director, Center for Universal Education, Council

on Foreign Relations (USA)
Poverty and hunger
Co-chair: Sartaj Aziz, Former Finance and Foreign Minister
(Pakistan)
Environment
Chair: David Runnalls, President, International Institute for Co-chair: Joachim von Braun, Director, International Food Policy
Sustainable Development (Canada) Research Institute (Germany)
Steve Bass, Senior Fellow, International Institute for Environment Tom Arnold, CEO, Concern Worldwide (Ireland)
and Development (UK) Rev. David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World (USA)
Belinda Calaguas, Advocacy Manager, Water Aid Nancy Birdsall, President, Center for Global Development (USA)
Angela Cropper, President, Cropper Foundation (Trinidad and Fan Gang, Director, National Economic Research Institute,
Tobago) China Reform Foundation (China)
John Elkington, Founder and Co-director, SustainAbility (UK) Hans Jöhr, Corporate Head of Agriculture, Nestle Ltd.
John Forgach, Chairman, ForestRe (USA) (Switzerland)
Mark Halle, European Representative and Director, Trade & Mercy Karanja, Executive Director, Kenyan National Farmers
Investment, International Institute for Sustainable Union (Kenya)
Development (Switzerland) Dr. John Joseph Otim, President, Agricultural Council of Uganda
Richard Sandbrook, Special Advisor to UNDP (UK) (Uganda)
John Whalley, Director of the Centre for Development and
International Economics Research at the University of
Health Warwick, UK (Canada)
Chair: Alfred Sommer, Dean, Bloomberg School of Public
Health, Johns Hopkins University (USA)
Steering committee Strobe Talbott President, The Brookings Institution
James Balsillie Chairman and Co-CEO, Research In
Motion Timothy E. Wirth President, United Nations Foundation
Carlos Bulgheroni President, Bridas Corporation Yu Yongding Director, Institute of World Economics
and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social
Mirai Chatterjee Coordinator, Self-Employed Women's Sciences
Association
Maria Eitel President, Nike Foundation

Sartaj Aziz Co-Chair, Expert Group on Poverty and
John English Executive Director, Centre for Hunger
International Governance Innovation Vice Chancellor, Beaconhouse National
University
Walter Fust Director-General, Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation Joachim von Braun Co-Chair, Expert Group on Poverty and
Hunger
Francois Heisbourg Director, Fondation pour la Recherche Director General, International Food
Strategique Policy Research Institute
Yotaro Kobayashi Chairman, Fuji Xerox Ltd. Christopher Colclough Chair, Expert Group on Education
Professor, Economics of Education, and
Christine Loh Founder and CEO, Civic Exchange Director, Centre for Commonwealth
Education, University of Cambridge
Simon Maxwell Director, Overseas Development Institute
Gareth J. Evans Chair, Expert Group on Peace and
Mark Moody-Stuart Chairman, Anglo American Plc Security
President, International Crisis Group
Kumi Naidoo Secretary-General and Chief Executive
Officer, CIVICUS Nicholas Howen Chair, Expert Group on Human Rights
Secretary-General, International
Moisés Naim Editor-in-Chief, Foreign Policy Magazine Commission of Jurists
Youssou N'Dour Artist and Chairman, Youth Network for David Runnalls Chair, Expert Group on Environment
Development Foundation President and CEO, International
Institute for Sustainable Development
Njongonkulu Archbishop, Anglican Archdiocese of
Ndungane Cape Town Alfred Sommer Chair, Expert Group on Health
Dean, Bloomberg School of Public
Sadako Ogata President, Japan International Health, Johns Hopkins University
Cooperation Agency
Surin Pitsuwan Member of Parliament, Royal Thai

Parliament Klaus Schwab Founder and Executive Chairman, World
(ex officio) Economic Forum
Mary Robinson Executive Director, Ethical Globalization
Initiative Richard Samans Managing Director, World Economic
(ex officio) Forum
John G. Ruggie Director, Center for Business and
Government, John F. Kennedy School of Ann M. Florini Project Director, Global Governance
Government, Harvard University (ex officio) Initiative
Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Ismail Serageldin Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Maurice F. Strong President, University for Peace, and

Special Adviser to the Secretary-General,
United Nations
Preface
Global Governance Initiative 2006
The World Economic Forum is pleased to present Centre for International Governance Innovation in
the third annual report of the Global Governance Canada, the United Nations Foundation and Nike,
Initiative, part of our series of public-private and Inc. The Forum is also grateful to the dedication of
multistakeholder projects to catalyse action on key the six expert groups and the organizations they
global challenges. represent, the eminent steering committee for its
project guidance and to Ann Florini, Senior Fellow
Each year, the Global Governance Initiative has at the Brookings Institution and GGI Project
convened more than 40 leading experts from Director, and Parag Khanna, Global Governance
Preface
academia, the private sector and civil society to Fellow at the Brookings Institution, for their
assess the level of effort around the world on a leadership in carrying the Initiative’s work forward.
range of internationally agreed goals in six major Not every Global Governance Initiative steering
areas: peace and security, poverty and hunger, committee or expert group member necessarily
education, health, the environment and human agrees with the views expressed in this report.
rights. The conclusions of this year’s report Nor do the views necessarily represent an
characterize the world’s performance in institutional position of the World Economic Forum
implementing the Millennium Declaration as mixed, or its members.
with some important new signs of movement but
much still left to be done. 2006 could turn out to be a watershed year for the
international goals. Much will depend on how the
The report provides both a scorecard to measure international community now responds to the new
the effort exerted by governments, international commitments and challenges that received so
organizations, business and civil society during much public attention during the year. We at the
2005 towards these goals—and a concise Forum hope the Global Governance Initiative will
discussion of key actions taken and opportunities contribute to progress by helping to hold all of
missed. It then looks ahead to 2006 and outlines us—governments, business and civil society
what must happen in the coming year for the world alike—to greater account for the effort required.
to be on track to achieve its goals.
Richard Samans
The Global Governance Initiative would not be Managing Director
possible without the generous support of the Swiss World Economic Forum
Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Geneva, December 2005
iv
Executive summary

Five years after world leaders committed themselves and their countries
to a broad and urgent array of global goals, hopes ran high that 2005
would be the “turnaround year”, the year when global efforts would finally
begin to match global aspirations for humanity’s future. It was not—but it
came a bit closer than cynics expected.
2005 proved that the world can make real progress had in previous years. That matters not only
Executive summary
towards achieving its most fundamental goals. It because of the inherent importance of these
got slightly better at reducing hunger and extreme issues, but because progress in one area depends
poverty, improving global public health, ensuring so heavily on progress in the others. Global public
peace and security and providing access to basic health, for example, requires access to clean water
education. New and badly needed roadmaps and sanitation. Climate change is already
emerged, thanks to the extraordinary reports of the exacerbating malaria, malnutrition and diarrhoea
UN Millennium Project, the UK Africa Commission throughout the world. The world’s poorest people
and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Under need sustainably managed ecosystems to preserve
the leadership of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and their livelihoods, and the scarcity of natural
the powerful pressure of a heavily mobilized resources can fuel violent conflict.
transnational civil society, the G-8 governments
agreed to provide substantial new funds to Yet 2005 also demonstrated how much non-
promote development. Large developing countries, traditional actors are starting to do. Civil society
notably China, India and Brazil, took major strides, groups mobilized on an unprecedented scale to
and Asia in general exuded new confidence and force governments to get more serious about their
excitement. commitments to the world’s poor. Local and
regional governments did more than their national
But 2005 also demonstrated the power of inertia counterparts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
and shortsightedness. At the World Summit of Private business grappled with notions of social
almost all nations in September, political leaders responsibility, and private foundations and
had the opportunity to commit themselves to a pharmaceutical firms now account for an
“grand bargain” that could have led to real enormous share of the progress on global public
breakthroughs on much of the global agenda, health.
from development to security to human rights.
They largely wasted the chance to dramatically Overall, therefore, 2005 was a mixed year of
improve how they run the world, taking only small grand opportunities and inadequate actions,
steps—not meaningless, but far from the major leaving ever more riding on what the world can
strides that are both needed and possible. The muster the courage to do in 2006. We do not yet
new aid promised by the rich countries is know whether the slight improvement in several
significant, but even if the promises are met in of the scores for 2005 is a blip in a continuing
full—a rarity in the history of such promises—they cycle of neglect and apathy, or the start of a
still fall far short of what is needed. The fight serious trend toward real progress in the human
against AIDS alone could use most of the new condition. Will historians look back one day and
money. say that 2005 was the real beginning of the 21st
century—the century when humanity achieved
And on such key issues as human rights and the meaningful stability and prosperity throughout the
environment, the world actually did worse than it world?
v
Scores inching up in 2005
10
5
2003
2004
2005
0
Peace Poverty Hunger Education Health Environment Human rights
and security
Executive summary
Goals and scores in Human Security Report 2005 demonstrates how

Peace and security score: 3/10 the international community has helped achieve
The key challenges to global peace and security— significant declines in political violence around the
to end civil and international wars, to eliminate world over the past decade.
weapons of mass destruction and to prevent
terrorism—affect people everywhere. The year’s Poverty and hunger scores
headlines were mostly depressing. Major violence Poverty: 5/10
continued in Iraq, Darfur, Nepal, Chechnya, Hunger: 4/10
Northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of The scores for poverty and hunger alleviation
Congo and a host of other conflicts, while terrorist inched up for 2005. Rich-country governments and
assaults wrought death and destruction from world leaders promised to increase aid and debt
London to Amman. And there was no real progress relief. Populous countries such as Brazil, China and
in resolving the nuclear crises in the Democratic India invested in significant pro-poor actions. And
People’s Republic of Korea and Iran. massive civil society campaigns kept local and
global pressure on governments to cut poverty and
Despite this depressing record, the world did hunger in half.
marginally better in addressing peace and security
issues than in 2004. No new wars broke out either But the global picture remains mixed. Rapid
within or between countries, and peace economic growth has not translated into poverty
agreements gave hopes for an end to long-running reduction globally. Only East Asia has met the
conflicts in Sudan and Indonesia. The September poverty goal, and only Latin America is on track to
UN World Summit, although largely a lost meet the hunger goal. Lack of preparedness for
opportunity, produced two major natural disasters hit the poor hard. The UN Summit
breakthroughs––the creation of a Peacebuilding largely reiterated commitments already made in
Commission at the UN and the adoption of the other recent summits. The World Trade
“responsibility to protect” principle. Organization’s (WTO) ministerial meeting in
December made only slight progress towards
In 2006 multiple challenges will continue to making a dent in poverty and hunger.
confront us. Foremost among them are: Iraq;
resolving the “big three” African conflicts in Darfur, Looking ahead, for the scores to improve, civil
Northern Uganda and Congo; and resolving the society will have to keep the pressure on donor
nuclear standoffs in Iran and Korea DPR and governments to honor their new commitments.
regenerating momentum on disarmament and non- Small and medium-size developing country
proliferation issues. governments will need to improve their governance
and will need help to develop their capacity to
Those engaged in meeting these challenges can at implement pro-poor policies. And innovative pro-
least have the satisfaction of knowing that their poor partnerships between governments,
vi efforts make a real difference. The evidence set out businesses and civil societies will make a key
This is the third in a series of annual assessments by the
World Economic Forum’s Global Governance Initiative
(GGI). The GGI evaluates the world’s efforts to achieve its
goals, as laid out in the UN Millennium Declaration and
other widely accepted international agreements. Over the
course of each year, groups of the world’s leading experts
assess the efforts of governments and non-governmental

actors alike, grading the world on a zero to ten scale across
the full range of security, development, environmental and
human rights issues so fundamental to global stability and
prosperity. Ten represents the level of effort needed for the
world to be on track to achieve its goals, and every num-
ber below represents a step down from what is needed.
One indicates that the world accomplished little or nothing,
and zero means that policies and initiatives over the year
moved us in the wrong direction. The GGI is overseen by
an eminent steering committee, in whose name this report
is released.
Executive summary
difference in realizing “quick wins”. The momentum substantially unless more resources are committed
of 2005 must translate into real action on the in 2006. Several dozen countries are devising
ground in 2006. workable education plans, and donors must boost
Fast Track Initiative funding to help turn these plans
into reality.
Education score: 4/10
The first international benchmark for education—to Health score: 5/10
eliminate gender disparities at all levels by 2005— 2005 provided no shortage of warning signs about
has passed us by, and at least 50 countries in the importance of global health. HIV/AIDS continued
Africa and Asia stand no chance of providing all to spread. Malaria killed upwards of a million more
children a primary education by 2015. While such people. And the world did little to reduce the under-
countries as China have moved to eliminate school five mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio.
fees, another 100 still impose them. Donor
countries lag badly in fulfilling their promise to Funding boosts for immunization from the European
bridge the funding gaps for the Education for All Union and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Fast Track Initiative (FTI), an international contributed to improving the world’s overall score to
partnership that promised to provide assistance to 5, but nowhere near enough is being done to
any country with credible education sector plans. address myriad shortfalls. The woeful state of the
world’s public health infrastructure, the lack of access
The debt relief and increased aid pledges in 2005 to laboratory supplies, drugs and medications, and
could fill that funding gap, but rich countries made the shortage of health workers make it highly unlikely
no specific commitments to education. The UN that Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Oceania will
World Summit and the World Bank–International meet the goals. In Africa 35% of children face a
Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in the fall also failed greater risk of dying prematurely than a decade ago,
to boost funding for education; only US$ 1.5 billion while AIDS remains the leading cause of early death.
of the estimated US$ 10 billion needed annually is Even though addressing malaria mainly requires
currently being provided. Were it not for civil society deploying known treatments, very little progress was
initiatives like the Global Campaign for Education made in 2005 due to only small funding increases for
and corporate foundation investments such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
those in India, there would be even less good news Malaria and poor organization of the Roll Back
to report. Malaria Partnership.
A hundred million children are still not enrolled in To reverse the decay of crumbling health
primary school, a number that will not fall infrastructure and information networks around the vii
world will require the commitment of significant Human rights score: 2/10
additional long-term resources, along the lines The status of human rights in the world continued
outlined in the Millennium Project’s reports. to decline in 2005. Not only did persistent
challenges remain unaddressed, but the serious
Environment score: 2/10 erosion of human rights by counterterrorism
The world’s environmental goals—to stabilize policies accelerated.
atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at
safe levels, reverse biodiversity loss and cut in half The International Criminal Court issued its first
Executive summary
the proportion of people without safe access to warrants. But up to 2 million people in Darfur,
drinking water and sanitation—require but did not Sudan, still faced the violent attacks and total
receive high-level political commitment. impunity of the perpetrators, indicating how far the
world has to go to prevent crimes against humanity
Few countries managed to reduce emissions of in the year that marked the 60th anniversary of the
heat-trapping gasses. Ecosystem protection Nuremberg Tribunal. And it is still unknown whether
frameworks are simply absent. And hundreds of the precedent-setting trial of Saddam Hussein will
millions of people, particularly in Africa, remain deliver impartial justice or be a political show. From
without clean water or sanitation, threatening the the United Kingdom to Thailand, laws passed in
achievement of goals on curbing hunger, the name of fighting terrorism shifted the center of
eradicating poverty and combating disease. High gravity from protecting rights to restricting them—
energy prices helped spur renewed attention with uncertain consequences for democracy. The
towards clean and efficient technologies. Local continued practice of outsourcing torture to
governments and some corporations moved boldly countries with scant human rights protection, the
ahead of their national leaders on emission refusal to end the legal black hole in which
reduction initiatives. And in Asia, particularly in Guantanamo Bay prisoners languish, the failure to
China and India, access to clean water and deal with the systemic attitudes that led to the Abu
sanitation has improved, and there is some hope of Ghraib torture—all were unfortunate features of
reaching the goal there. 2005. It remains to be seen whether the proposed
Human Rights Council will achieve more legitimacy
For 2006 the world must take advantage of high than its predecessor in the United Nations.
oil prices to boost investment in clean energy and
technology transfer. The private sector must One notable area of progress occurred with the
emulate General Electric’s newfound commitment growing requirements and regulations on the
to clean technology and emissions reduction, but private sector to report on the social impact of their
the market alone will not be our saviour. Other activities, measures driven by both the European
governments must follow the lead of the Union and the voice of civil society. In 2006 much
European Union to take serious action on climate more should be done to spread economic and
change. And all actors should begin to heed the social rights norms, which will require civil society
findings of the Millennium Ecosystem to continue to strengthen its demands to move
Assessment. from charity to rights.
viii
Introduction

2005 was a year of high hopes and big promises. Global Governance Initiative takes no position on
Five years after the world’s governments agreed on whether the agreed goals are adequate or the
a comprehensive agenda to confront humanity’s “right” ones for humanity (although we recognize
most pressing woes, they stepped up the pace of that the goals have become invaluable rallying
action—a bit. Often they promised new resources points to mobilize global efforts). That decision has
or established new programmes because civil been made by the most legitimate representatives
society groups mobilized to an extraordinary available—the world’s governments. The point of
degree to demand such action. Where those this exercise is to monitor whether those
Introduction
intensive pressures were lacking—notably on governments (with support from other actors) are
environment and human rights—government efforts making the effort to carry out their commitments.
were especially anaemic. Bubbling under the
surface frenzy of high-level commissions and global This year, as in past years, the Global Governance
summits were uncounted numbers of less Initiative has graded the world on its performance
publicized and smaller initiatives involving everyone in each of six issue areas: peace and security;
from local governments to businesses to dedicated poverty and hunger; education; health;
individuals. environment; and human rights. The grades are on
a zero to ten scale, with ten representing not stellar
What did all the rhetoric and activity add up to over effort but merely what the world should be doing to
the year? Did it get us on track to achieve the be on track to achieve its basic goals. Every
world’s goals? number below ten is a step down from the level of
effort needed. One indicates that the total level of
This report, the third in an annual series produced effort accomplished essentially nothing, and zero
by the World Economic Forum’s Global means that human activity over the course of the
Governance Initiative, provides the assessments of year moved us in the wrong direction.
some of the world’s leading experts about how
large the gap remains between the rhetoric of Overall the news is positive, but only a bit. On most
global goals and the reality of action on the ground. of the goals the world’s efforts for 2005 earned
As in previous years, those assessments cover the slightly higher scores than in previous years—
contributions of all the types of actors on the global although still no score higher than a five,
stage: governments, intergovernmental representing a level of effort about half what was
organizations, the business community and civil needed. And because the scores have for several
society. Governments are the key actors with the years fallen far below ten, the gap between action
lion’s share of responsibility for ensuring the and aspiration is growing ever larger: more will
achievement of the goals, and the need to be done in the future to make up for what
intergovernmental organizations they create are was not done in the past.
essential tools in that struggle. But governments
are unlikely to meet the challenge without the active Progress came on several fronts. The world got
and large-scale participation of both the private better at agreeing on what is needed to achieve the
sector and civil society. various goals. The UN Millennium Project released
a series of extraordinary roadmaps on exactly what
Our assessments begin with the specific goals it will take to achieve the set of global goals
agreed on by the world’s leaders in such collectively known as the Millennium Development
documents as the UN Millennium Declaration, Goals (MDGs), which cover poverty, hunger, health
across the full range of security, development, and education. The Africa Commission, chaired by
environmental and human rights issues so UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, highlighted the need
fundamental to global stability and prosperity. The for a massive increase in assistance to that ix
continent. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment actually emerge. Moreover, the lion’s share of
delivered the first comprehensive evaluation of the responsibility for achieving the development goals
state of the world’s ecosystems, along with a lies with the developing countries themselves.
sobering set of proposals for what would be Some, such as China, India and Brazil, have taken
needed to maintain them. major strides, and Asia in general exudes new
confidence and excitement. But other nations are
Even before the roadmaps emerged, there were still mired in conflict, destitution and, too often,
signs that people were becoming more willing to corruption.
Introduction
act. The UK government, in assuming its

presidency of the Group of Eight (G-8) in 2005, had The other major step forward in 2005 should have
signalled its intention to make action on Africa a been a global “grand bargain” to reform the United
major priority. And by the time the G-8 leaders had Nations, revamping international systems for
assembled in July at Gleneagles in Scotland addressing peace and security, human rights and
massive global publicity from a world-wide alliance development to make those systems capable of
of non-governmental organizations had hammered addressing the extraordinary challenges described
home for the leaders the need to make immediate throughout this report. But in September, at the
progress on poverty reduction. That campaign World Summit at the UN Headquarters in New
involved hundreds of thousands of people in York, the world’s leaders largely wasted an
marches and a set of Live-8 concerts around the extraordinary opportunity to dramatically improve
world, watched by an estimated 2 billion people. the way they run the world. Hard-line intransigence,
There was, then, unprecedented pressure from a diplomatic incompetence and fundamentally
wide range of sources for the G-8 leaders to act. competing visions of what the United Nations
should be—all left the proposed grand bargain in
At the meeting of the G-8 leaders in July, and at tatters. Instead, the world got only piecemeal
the UN World Summit and the World reforms—a good move on better structures for
Bank–International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual peacebuilding, agreement that the international
meetings in September, the world’s governments community has the right to step in when national
agreed to write off the largely uncollectible debts of governments fail to fulfil their “responsibility to
the world’s poorest countries to international protect” their own citizens from atrocity crimes, and
institutions. And richer governments promised to a vague promise to create a better UN institution
provide more aid—some US$ 50 billion more than on human rights.
2004 levels, ramping up from about US$ 80 billion
to just short of US$ 130 billion a year by 2010— Even a fully successful World Summit would not
enough to catalyse significant change if it have raised all the scores to perfect tens (and
represents truly new and additional commitments. perfect tens in any case represent only a sufficient
Half this increase in development aid—some US$ effort, not an outstanding one). Although such an
25 billion by 2010—was earmarked for Africa, outcome would certainly have improved the score
doubling the aid to that continent. on peace and security and might have helped raise
the horrible score the world earned this year on
But 2005 was, unfortunately, not the year that human rights, it would have made little difference to
made poverty history. The new promises on aid still the equally terrible score on environment. Yet the
fall short of what will be needed in the next few lack of environmental progress undermines
years, if the Millennium Project is correct. The fight progress on almost all other goals. Global public
against HIV/AIDS alone could take up that much health depends heavily on access to clean water
money. And given past donor behaviour, there is no and sanitation. An article in Nature in November
x guarantee that all the promised new funding will provided data indicating that climate change is
Scores inching up in 2005
10

4
1
2003
2004
2005
0
Peace Poverty Hunger Education Health Environment Human rights
and security
Introduction
already driving up rates of malaria, malnutrition and on climate change. Governments make progress
diarrhoea (a major killer of children) throughout the on the development goals largely in response to
world, contributing to more than 150,000 deaths civil society pressures. And businesses are
and 5 million illnesses a year. The world’s poorest beginning to investigate the opportunities to do well
people need sustainably managed ecosystems to by doing good at the bottom of the pyramid.
preserve their livelihoods. Scarcity of natural
resources can fuel violent conflict. This project takes a year-by-year approach,
necessary to hold decision-makers accountable.
Indeed, all of the struggles are connected. Sick Journeys start with single steps. To date, we have
children don’t go to school, uneducated people are taken too few steps every year. We do not yet
less likely to climb out of destitution, poverty and know whether the slight improvement in several of
hunger are strongly correlated with ill health. Violent the scores for 2005 is a blip in a continuing cycle of
conflict disrupts societies, impoverishes people and neglect and apathy, or the start of a serious trend
undermines essential ecosystems. Poverty often towards greater promise-keeping and
occurs not as an inherent condition of humanity but accountability. The subsequent chapters each
as the result of systemic human rights violations. conclude by looking ahead to identify how to pick
up the pace in 2006.
Despite the disappointing results of the September
World Summit, the growing likelihood that we will These goals also demand a long-term perspective.
not meet all of the international development goals The development goals, for example, have ten
and the disastrous performance of governments on more years to go. But goals themselves are just
environmental commitments, 2005 also had some way stations to further destinations. Even if we
surprisingly good news. Real innovation was under achieve the poverty goal, that will still leave close
way, but it was often not to be found in the minutes to a billion people in utter destitution. On global
of the negotiations. warming, it may already be too late to avoid
dangerous man-made interference with the
This report contains numerous examples of climate, and we will be dealing with the problem
impressive action by local governments, civil for generations to come. Overall, we must decide
society groups and businesses—sometimes in how willing we are to roll the dice on humanity’s
partnership. It is not yet the norm to think about future.
such actors and their partnerships as the model for
problem-solving, and they generally operate on too These are not reasons for despair. They are, very
small a scale to bring about transformational definitely, reasons to redouble our efforts. If we do,
change for the world. But already, pharmaceutical historians may look back one day and say that
firms and private foundations account for an 2005 was the real beginning of the 21st century—
enormous share of the movement on global public the century when humanity found ways to achieve
health. Subnational governments and the business meaningful stability and prosperity through the
sector are doing more than many national leaders world. xi
Score
1 Peace and security 3

Goals
• Free all peoples from the scourge of war, both within and between states.
• Seek to eliminate the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction.
• Take concerted action against international terrorism.
• End illicit traffic in small arms.
Rationale for the score General Kofi Annan’s In Larger Freedom report. He
1
The year’s headlines in all these areas were mostly described the Summit as a “once-in-a-generation
Peace and security

depressing—with major violence continuing in Iraq, opportunity” to strengthen and revitalize the
thousands still dying every month in Darfur and the multilateral system.
Democratic Republic of Congo, nuclear stalemates
maintained with the Democratic People’s Republic Sadly, the heads of government largely wasted this
of Korea and Iran, terrorist attacks from London to extraordinary opportunity. There was important
Bali, continuing war in Nepal and Chechnya and movement on post-conflict peacebuilding and the
missed opportunities for UN reform at the embrace of the new “responsibility to protect”
September World Summit. norm, and some lip service paid to the need to
reinforce the peacemaking and peacekeeping
But there was some forward movement. Peace capacity of the UN and regional organizations, but
agreements gave hope for an end to long-running beyond that nothing of real substance on peace
civil conflicts in Sudan and Indonesia. The fragility and security. The Security Council remained
of a number of situations notwithstanding, no new unrestructured and unrepresentative, and leaders
wars began either within or between countries. And could not agree on a norm-setting definition of
two major breakthroughs did come from the World terrorism. The attempt to establish guidelines
Summit—agreement to fill a longstanding identifying criteria of legitimacy for the use of
institutional gap with the new Peacebuilding military force failed. On disarmament and non-
Commission and unanimous embrace of the proliferation, no agreement could be reached on
principle of the “responsibility to protect”, any of the key issues.
recognizing limitations on state sovereignty in
situations of catastrophic internal violence. Eliminating war between states
No new interstate wars began in 2005, but there
On balance, the international community did was scant progress in resolving existing ones. The
marginally better in addressing peace and security situation in Iraq began to spin out of control.
issues than in 2004—justifying a score of 3 rather Violence escalated in Afghanistan and continued
than 2—but still much less well than it could do, between Israelis and Palestinians. And an uneasy
and needs to do, for the world’s peoples to be stalemate between Ethiopia and Eritrea looked
freed from the scourge of war and mass violence. close to unravelling. Tensions diminished, however,
across the Taiwan Strait and for a second
Key events in 2005 consecutive year between India and Pakistan.
The hope that 2005 would be a watershed year for
global peace and security governance proved All eyes were again on Iraq in 2005—the world’s
unfounded. The UN’s 60th Anniversary World deadliest conflict in combat-related deaths. The
Summit in September, the largest ever gathering of year began with relatively successful elections in
world leaders, was convened at a time when not January, but disenchantment with the political
only was the need for reform almost universally process led to a low voter turnout among Sunni
acknowledged, but a very detailed agenda for Arabs and their underrepresentation in the new
achieving it had evolved, distilled in UN Secretary- interim National Assembly. Kurdish and Shiite 1
Armed conflicts by type, 1946–2003
Number of armed conflicts

60
50
40
30
20
10 Intrastate
Interstate
0 Colonial
1946 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2003
1 Source: Human Security Centre. 2005. Human Security Report 2005: War and Peace in the 21st Century. New York: Oxford University Press.
Peace and security
Political violence declines worldwide:

International action matters
Significant encouragement for those looking for evidence as did calls for the withdrawal of allied troops. By
that good international governance makes a difference in year’s end the risk of de facto partition and full-
peace and security, as elsewhere, came with the publica- scale civil war remained high.
tion in October of the long-awaited Human Security Report
2005, a comprehensive study by the University of British There were positive steps in the Israel-Palestine
Columbia and supported by five governments. The report conflict, but the prospect of lasting peace remained
demonstrates, counterintuitively for most people, that there remote. In February newly elected Palestinian
has been a dramatic decrease in the number of conflicts Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli
(by 40% since the early 1990s)—with battle deaths declin- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon brokered an informal
ing even more dramatically over a longer period. It also ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups, which,
shows an even more striking reduction in the number of while tested to its limits, helped bring casualties in
mass killings (by 80% since the late 1980s) despite 2005 to their lowest level since 2000. Israel
Rwanda, Srbrenica and Darfur, and a large increase in the unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and settlers from
number of civil conflicts resolved by negotiation. the Gaza Strip, but construction of settlements and
the controversial separation barrier continued in the
Several factors contributed to these results—including the West Bank.
end of the Cold War, with all its proxy wars and resented
authoritarian governments. But the crucial ingredient identi- Elsewhere in the Middle East relations between
fied in the study is the huge increase in the level and effective- Lebanon and Syria deteriorated dramatically, with
ness of international preventive diplomacy, diplomatic peace- outrage over the shocking February assassination
making, peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations—for of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, forcing the
the most part authorized and mounted by the United Nations, withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country—long
and strongly supported by many other international players, demanded by the UN Security Council. A UN
including non-governmental organizations. inquiry implicated top Syrian officials, with the
Security Council demanding Syrian cooperation
with the investigation.
leaders failed to find common ground with Sunni The peace maintained by Ethiopia and Eritrea since
Arabs over the country’s constitution, producing a formal cessation of hostilities in December 2000
draft text that, while approved in a nationwide frayed dangerously, with neither side showing a
referendum in October, was deeply divisive. The willingness to compromise in their ongoing border
frequency and deadliness of attacks against Iraqi dispute. The UN expressed its serious concern
2
and coalition forces—and Iraqi civilians—increased, over the deterioration.
The responsibility to protect
At the September UN World Summit global leaders unani- missions civilisatrices—had been used against them in the
mously endorsed the emerging international norm of the past.
Responsibility to Protect. By so doing they acknowl-
edged—to an extent unthinkable during the divisive The Canadian-sponsored International Commission on
debates on “humanitarian intervention” in the 1990s—that Intervention and State Sovereignty turned this debate on its
there were inherent limits to state sovereignty in the cases head in 2001, focusing—from the perspective of victims—on
of catastrophic human rights violations. They accepted a state responsibilities rather than rights. It argued that the

principle that was just a dream when Kofi Annan first responsibility to protect civilian populations was first and fore-
uttered it in 1998: “state frontiers . . . should no longer be most for sovereign states themselves. But if a state abdicat-
seen as a watertight protection for war criminals or mass ed that responsibility, through either incapacity or ill will, it
murderers.” shifted to the wider international community, to be exercised
as circumstances required, including in the last resort the use
During the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the ethnic cleans- of UN-authorized force.
ing and other atrocities that convulsed the former Yugoslavia
through the 1990s, the international community was deeply It will be another matter to ensure this principle’s effective
divided on whether there was a “right to intervene” in these application in practice as cases arise in the future, its endorse-
internal situations. Many developing countries were acutely ment by the world’s heads of government in September 2005 1
sensitive to the way supposedly benevolent interventions— was unquestionably an important breakthrough.
Peace and security

In Asia the conflict in Afghanistan between U.S.-led major civil conflicts—between the Sudan
coalition forces and insurgents intensified, with government and southern rebels and between the
concern growing over the Taliban’s apparently Indonesian government and Aceh rebels—ended
increasing strength. Attacks against aid and with peace agreements. But the international
election workers continued. President Hamid Karzai community did too little to manage serious ongoing
struggled to navigate ethnic and sectarian interests troubles in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of
amid a political and economic scene dominated by Congo, or to resolve other crises from Haiti to
warlords and drugs. Nepal, Zimbabwe and Côte d’Ivoire.
Tensions eased for the second straight year The conclusion in Sudan of the January 2005
between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Bus Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the
service resumed across the Line of Control for the Khartoum government and the southern-based
first time since partition in 1947, and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, formally
unprecedented discussions began between bringing to an end one of the world’s longest and
moderate Kashmiri separatists and New Delhi. The most destructive wars, was a good start to the
devastating October earthquake, which killed year. But implementation remained fragile, despite
scores of thousands in Kashmir, created hopes for the deployment of 10,000 UN peacekeepers to the
further relaxation of the separation barrier, but south.
continuing government mistrust left most of them
unrealized, and separatist violence continued. The security and humanitarian situation in Darfur
remained dire. The small and belatedly deployed
Elsewhere in Asia tensions between China and African Union peace force could not adequately
Taiwan abated after a series of visits to the protect displaced civilians, new fighting erupted.
mainland by Taiwanese opposition leaders and With the rebel movement still divided and
Beijing’s subsequent decision to lift some cross- Khartoum less than cooperative, the political
strait travel restrictions. settlement sought by the African Union looked far
off. One positive development was the UN Security
Little progress was made in resolving the frozen Council’s referring, with the United States
conflicts in the southern Caucasus— abstaining rather than opposing, Darfur atrocity
Nagorno–Karabakh, Georgia/South crimes to the International Criminal Court.
Ossetia–Georgia/Abkhazia and
Moldova–Transdniestria. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s shaky
transition inched forward amid widespread
Eliminating war within states insecurity, with as many as 1,000 still dying every
3
No new intrastate wars began in 2005, and two day from disease, malnutrition and sporadic
Annual fatalities in the Israeli-Palestinian
Steps were taken to strengthen the conflict, 2000–05
monitoring capability and credibility Fatalities
of the Kimberley Process, the 1250
UN-backed voluntary initiative

stemming the trade in conflict 1000
Palestinians
diamonds
750
500
250
Israelis
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005a
1 a. From 1 January to 31 October.

Source: Middle East Policy Council; International Crisis Group, based on
data from the Middle East Policy Council, www.mepc.org.
Peace and security
violence. A new constitution was adopted in May, off-again peace process with the brutal Lord’s
but with preparations lagging the scheduled June Resistance Army (LRA) rebels yielded no substantial
elections were postponed to 2006. Militia in the progress, and the International Criminal Court
Ituri and Katanga regions, and Rwandan Hutu issued its first arrest warrants for LRA leaders.
rebels in the east, continued to prey on civilians.
Corruption and mismanagement in the national Better news came with Liberia’s successful
army left many troops with little or no income, elections, choosing in November the continent’s
making the army an added threat to locals. The UN first woman president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
peacekeeping force adopted a more aggressive Burundi’s peace process progressed with major
posture but remained inadequately staffed and victories by the former opposition (and insurgent)
without the resources or mandate to provide CNDD-FDD in communal and legislative elections
security throughout the country. and with the inauguration in August of its candidate
Pierre Nkurunziza.
Elsewhere in Africa several other states remained
on the edge of failure. The transitional government Steps were taken to strengthen the monitoring
in Somalia was divided into armed camps, led capability and credibility of the Kimberley Process,
respectively by the president and speaker of the the UN-backed voluntary initiative stemming the
parliament, and a possibly disastrous military trade in conflict diamonds. Participating countries,
intervention by regional governments was only which now account for more than 90% of the global
narrowly averted. Côte d’Ivoire looked set to production of rough diamonds, agreed in November
explode as the government of national to start monitoring all diamond production in West
reconciliation neither reconciled anyone nor Africa and profiling all exports from the region.
managed to prepare credible elections before the
end of President Laurent Gbagbo’s constitutional In Asia a major breakthrough was achieved in
mandate in October. Indonesia’s long-running Aceh conflict with the
signing of a peace agreement in August. But
Zimbabwe’s March parliamentary election gave the Central Asia underwent considerable upheaval in
ruling ZANU-PF party a controversial landslide over 2005, with an uprising in Andijan provoking a
the opposition but failed to resolve the five-year murderous crackdown by Uzbekistan’s security
political impasse. It was followed in less than two forces and with street protestors ousting
months by a notorious government clean-up Kyrgyzstan’s President Askar Akayev.
operation that left more than 700,000 slum dwellers
homeless or without livelihoods, exacerbating Democracy collapsed in Nepal following King
already serious food insecurity and HIV/AIDS crises. Gyanendra’s February coup, while Maoist rebels
4 In more stable Uganda the government’s on-again intensified their insurgency before declaring a
There was no progress towards
eliminating weapons of mass
destruction

unilateral ceasefire in September. In Pakistan that “very little [was] accomplished”. This was
sectarian conflict worsened as the military largely because of the widening gap between the
government continued to marginalize secular United States and the non-nuclear states. The non-
democratic forces. Thailand’s southern insurgency nuclear states sought more progress by the major
also escalated, with almost daily killings. There was nuclear powers in meeting their commitments to
continuing political violence in Sri Lanka, factional
strife within the Tamil Tiger rebel movement and a
reduce their own arsenals. The nuclear states, with
the partial exception of the United Kingdom, made
1
troubling loss of momentum in the peace process. no effort to address these issues.
Peace and security

Haiti’s hope of escaping failed-state status was More positive developments occurred at the G-8
undermined by fiercely polarized elite/populist summit at Gleneagles in Scotland when leaders
politics, a hesitant UN peacekeeping and endorsed a wide array of non-proliferation
international civilian presence, and an inept and measures, reconfirmed their commitment to the
corrupt transitional government. Colombia three pillars of the NPT and renewed their pledge to
continued to be plagued by attacks of the main raise up to US$ 20 billion for initiatives under the
insurgent group, FARC, which officials expect to Global Partnership against the spread of weapons
worsen before the congressional and presidential of mass destruction. But more disappointment
elections in March and May 2006. came with the UN World Summit in September. The
U.S. insistence on replacing language referring to
In Europe the long-awaited and overdue final status the NPT pillars of “disarmament, non-proliferation
process for Kosovo began with the appointment as and the peaceful use of nuclear energy” with a
the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy, Martti focus solely on preventing the further spread of
Ahtisaari, fresh from his success in mediating Aceh. nuclear weapons gave ample coverage for spoilers
Destabilized by the unresolved conflict in on the other side of the argument. UN Secretary-
Chechnya, Russia’s North Caucasus region was General Kofi Annan rightly called the failure of
the scene of repeated shootouts between police member states to agree on any action on non-
and Islamist militants. proliferation and disarmament “a real disgrace”.
Eliminating weapons of mass destruction September did witness significant movement—or

There was no progress towards eliminating at least the avoidance of a breakdown—in the six-
weapons of mass destruction in 2005. The Non- party talks on Korea DPR’s nuclear programmes.
Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference in May But few observers were sanguine about the
failed utterly to close the gap between advocates prospects for real progress. The Iran case was
of non-proliferation and disarmament, and the more complicated: talks with the EU-3 broke down
September UN World Summit failed to agree on a in the summer as Iran refused to sustain its
single recommendation. Negotiations with Iran and suspension of nuclear activities. In September the
Korea DPR went ahead, but with little progress IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution
towards agreement. A measure of the world’s finding that the issues “are within the competence
concern that there be renewed effort to address of the Security Council”, thus paving the way for
these issues came with the award, 60 years after possible formal referral to the Council.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of the Nobel peace prize
to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) In July the United States and India signed an
and its head, Mohamed ElBaradei. agreement on nuclear cooperation. India accepted
some formal constraints on its nuclear
Following the month-long review of the NPT in May, programme—though not the cessation of fissile
the Brazilian Chairman, Sergio Duarte, conceded material production or full inspections—in return for 5
Terrorism casualties trends, 1982–2003
Number of casualties (dead and wounded)

7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
1982 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003
Source: Human Security Centre. 2005. Human Security Report 2005: War and Peace in the 21st Century. New
York: Oxford University Press.
1
Peace and security
“full civil nuclear energy cooperation”. There was Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear
some concern internationally that India received too Terrorism, the first international anti-terrorism treaty
much return for too few commitments, and that— since the 11 September 2001 attacks, calling on
while re-engagement by the de facto nuclear states to develop appropriate legal frameworks
weapons states in non-proliferation issues was to criminalizing nuclear terrorism–related offenses.
be welcomed—NPT objectives were not sufficiently
advanced by this bilateral deal. With much of its leadership captured or killed and
its organizational effectiveness drastically
Eliminating terrorism reduced, Al Qaeda’s influence in 2005 appears
International efforts to eliminate terrorism were largely to have become more inspirational than
unsuccessful in 2005, with coordinated attacks on organizational. The London bombings in July
the London transport system, the targeting of tourists increased concern because they were
in Egypt and Indonesia, major attacks in Delhi and perpetrated by what appear to be small self-
Amman, insurgents’ continued kidnapping and killing motivated groups of alienated second or third
of aid workers in Afghanistan, and daily bombings in generation immigrants. Deadly attacks occurred
Iraq. Although international cooperation among police in Egypt, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India and
and intelligence agencies improved, the underlying Jordan as well as the United Kingdom.
political and economic causes of the problem
remained mostly unaddressed. Iraq continued to be the scene of the most
devastating and regular attacks, blamed variously
The number of significant international terrorist on followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda’s
events rose dramatically in 2004, the latest year reported field commander in Iraq, and disgruntled
with statistics. Nearly three-quarters of the attacks former Baathists. The rushed constitutional process
took place in Iraq, India and Indian-controlled deepened rifts between Sunni Arabs and Iraq’s two
Kashmir, but the frequency of major incidents also other principal communities—Shiites and Kurds—
increased outside these regions. It seems likely, and fueled rather than dampened the insurgency.
when the figures are in, that this trend will have Iraqi security forces and recruitment centres were
continued in 2005. primary targets, as were coalition troops and
Shiites.
Although world leaders at the September Summit
condemned terrorism “in all its forms and Suicide attacks in Israel came down dramatically
manifestations”, they failed to agree on a norm- from 2004, as Palestinian militant groups largely
setting definition making clear that any attacks adhered to an informal ceasefire brokered in
against civilians, whatever the context, were as February with the Israeli government.
globally unacceptable as piracy and slavery.
There was positive news in Northern Ireland, as the
In April the General Assembly did take a step Irish Republican Army renounced violence for the
6 forward with the adoption of the International first time in its 30-year armed campaign and
The UN Summit failed to produce
a commitment to address the
international transfer and
brokering of small arms

committed to pursue its goals exclusively through stabilize societies and improve human security in
peaceful means. the aftermath of armed conflict. In September
2005 a new DDR programme began in Indonesia’s
Reducing the availability of small arms Aceh province.
Though there were some positive developments,
2005 was for small-arms reduction—as documented
by the Small Arms Survey—essentially a year for
Use of anti-personnel mines around the world
decreased in 2005, with almost no international 1
review. trade in them, according to the Landmine Monitor
Peace and security

Report 2005. The year saw three more countries
Despite progress in diplomatic peacemaking and (Bhutan, Latvia and Vanuatu) ratify the landmark
peacebuilding, the world has a very long way to go 1997 Ottawa Convention. But 40 countries have
in reducing (where it matters) the number and yet to ratify it, and campaigners remain concerned
availability of instruments of war, not only in by U.S. statements suggesting that it may resume
weapons of mass destruction. Conventional landmine production.
weapons and small arms continue to be produced
on a massive scale, with more developing countries Praise and blame
entering the international arms trade. Those deserving praise in 2005 included:
In July the first global treaty on small arms, the • Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari—for
UN Firearms Protocol, entered into force, with its mediating the Aceh peace agreement.
state parties undertaking to exercise strict control • Kenyan General Lazarus Sumbeiywo—for
over the manufacture, export, import and in- leading the successful north-south peace
transit movement of firearms. In a further negotiations in Sudan.
development, by year’s end 38 governments had • The people of Liberia—for their overwhelming
expressed support for an Arms Trade Treaty that participation in the country’s post-Taylor
would subject international arms transfers to election, and their selection of Africa’s first
agreed principles, though the four main world woman president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
traders in small arms and light weapons—the • The Canadian Government and Prime Minister
United States, Russia, China and Ukraine, in that Paul Martin—for their sustained promotion of
order—remain aloof. the “responsibility to protect”, showing at the
World Summit how real political leadership
There was little movement on arms brokers able to can produce results.
circumvent national laws by operating in one
country while arranging deals in others. Despite Among the more blameworthy:
calls by UN Secretary-General Annan for member
states to address the issue and considerable • The World Summit “spoilers”—on the one
lobbying by civil society activists, the UN Summit hand a small group of developing countries,
failed to produce a commitment to address the with Egypt and Pakistan among the most
international transfer and brokering of small arms. consistently prominent, and on the other the
United States—which, by refusing consensus
At the regional and national levels there were some on numerous issues, undermined what were
useful developments. The United Nations otherwise overwhelming majorities for change.
Development Programme (UNDP) and other • Iran and Korea DPR—for resisting international
international agencies supported disarmament, concern about their weapon-making intentions.
demobilization and reintegration (DDR) • The nuclear weapons states—for resisting
programmes around the world, which can help movement on arms control and disarmament 7
initiatives, which are both inherently worthwhile settlements around Jerusalem do not become
and necessary to strengthen global new flashpoints.
commitment to non-proliferation. • Achieving sustainable peace and stability in
• Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe—for his Afghanistan, a resolution of the conflicts in
government’s callous “clean-up” operation Nepal and Sri Lanka and further progress in
1 that left more than 700,000 slum dwellers

homeless or without livelihoods, driving the •
India-Pakistan relations.
Bringing negotiations on the final status of
country ever deeper into despair. Kosovo to a successful and peaceful
Peace and security
• Nepal’s King Gyanendra—for his February conclusion.

coup, plunging the fragile country deeper into • Making the new Peacebuilding Commission
debilitating conflict. operational, and injecting new resources and
energy into global and regional capacity
Looking ahead building for peacemaking and peacekeeping.
Multiple peace and security challenges confront the • Making significant progress in the General
international community in 2006, with ten most Assembly on a new umbrella convention on
significant: terrorism, containing a definition expressly
outlawing violence against civilians, whatever
• Avoiding the disintegration of Iraq and the context.
neighbouring countries. • Making a success of the 2006 UN Conference
• Resolving the nuclear standoffs in Iran and on Small Arms.
Korea DPR, and regenerating positive
momentum across the spectrum of weapons The primary responsibility for meeting these
of mass destruction disarmament and non- challenges will fall variously on the United States,
proliferation. the UN Security Council and regional organizations
• Resolving the “big three” high-mortality African and groupings. There are few quick fixes available.
conflicts continuing in Darfur, Northern Uganda Conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping
and Congo. and peacebuilding involve slow, hard, grinding,
• Avoiding major new wars in Côte d’Ivoire and sustained work. Those engaged in it—governments,
between Ethiopia and Eritrea. intergovernmental organizations and civil society—at
• Maintaining some kind of momentum to least now have the satisfaction, on the evidence of
resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Human Security Report 2005, that they are not
particularly by ensuring that the wall and the entirely wasting their time.
8
Scores
2 Poverty and hunger

5/4

Goals
• Halve the proportion of people whose income is less than US$ 1 a day (in
purchasing power parity) between 1990 and 2015.
• Halve the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015.
Rationale for the scores

Hunger and poverty inched their way up the global
growth remained robust in 2005. Developing Asia
continues to blaze a trail, with real GDP growth 2
agenda in 2005, earning slightly higher scores than rates of 7.4% in 2005. Sub-Saharan Africa is
Poverty and hunger

in previous years. The improvement reflected a participating too, with 5.2% growth in 2005.
global paradigm shift that saw more recognition of Indeed, of the world’s 35 most food-insecure
the compelling need to get serious about countries, 19 saw an estimated real GDP growth
development. The UN Millennium Project started rate of more than 5%.
the year with a powerful and comprehensive set of
assessments on what should be done to achieve But economic growth has not been accompanied
the development goals. Rich-country governments by corresponding reductions in poverty. In 2005
increased their promised aid and debt relief. two influential reports, the UNDP’s Human
Developing countries saw sustained economic Development Report and the World Bank’s World
growth, and several—notably Brazil, China and Development Report, focused on growing
India—implemented significant pro-poor policies, inequality and its consequences for poverty and
driven more by domestic pressures, often from civil human well-being. The human development index
society, than from such formal actors as UN (HDI) improved in most developing countries but
agencies. Global civil society mobilized massively in less so in the poorest countries than in the middle-
support of the whole range of development goals, income countries. In 1960–62 the per capita GDP
through such initiatives as the Make Poverty History of the 20 richest countries was 54 times higher
campaign and the Live-8 concerts. But massive than that of the 20 countries at the bottom; by
hunger in Niger and the developing food 2000–02, it was 121 times higher. Enabling poor
emergencies in Malawi and Zimbabwe were stark people to contribute to and benefit from economic
reminders that the progress in 2005, while real, growth is clearly crucial.
remained inadequate in many countries. And
natural disasters, including the Indian Ocean In 2005 the lack of preparedness for natural
tsunami and the South Asia earthquake, afflicted disasters hit poor people very hard. The year began
millions of poor people. in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami, which
often had its worst impact on the most vulnerable
The state of poverty and hunger people, including the poor coastal farming and
News on the poverty and hunger situation in 2005 fishing communities of India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka
was mixed. East Asia had already met the poverty and Thailand. The tsunami created new food
goal. Southeast Asia, South Asia and North Africa emergencies in Indonesia (Aceh) and worsened the
were on track. And most of Sub-Saharan Africa situation in Sri Lanka, after a drought in 2004. The
was not. Latin America was on track to meet the October 2005 earthquake in South Asia also
hunger goal; Asia continued to make progress but severely affected millions of poor people, destroying
at lagging rates. livelihoods and compromising their welfare.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which hit the U.S. Gulf
Despite rapid economic growth and significant Coast, affected local poorest communities the most.
strides in some countries, the benefits of growth
often failed to reach the poor. Following Conflict and civil strife, as well as drought and other
unprecedented growth rates in 2004, economic natural disasters, can severely undermine poor 9
Proportion of people living on less than US$ 1 a day, 1990 and 2001
Percent
50
1990 2001
46.4
44.6
40
39.4
33
30
29.9
2015 target
20
19.6
16.6
10 11.3
10.2 9.5
0
Sub-Saharan Africa Southern Asia Eastern Asia South-Eastern Asia Latin America
and Oceana and the Caribbean
2 Source: United Nations. 2005. Millennium Development Goals Report 2005. New York.
Poverty and hunger
people’s access to food and livelihoods, resulting in Based on the work of 10 task forces supported by
acute hunger. At the end of 2005, 39 countries about 250 high-level experts from around the
faced food emergencies. Nineteen of them were world, it provided a wealth of information and
suffering from conflict, civil strife or an influx of valuable guidelines to help developing countries
refugees, with 14 of the conflict zones in Africa. formulate their MDG-based poverty reduction
Sixteen countries in Africa faced successive food strategies. The report argued that national poverty
shortages and drought at the end of the year. The reduction strategies should anchor the scaling up
situation worsened in the Sahel region of West of public investments, capacity building, domestic
Africa, affected by locusts and drought, and severe resource mobilization and official development
malnutrition was reported to be on the rise in Mali, assistance. They should also provide a framework
Mauritania and Niger. Owing to poor harvests and for strengthening governance, promoting human
the lack of policy action in Malawi and Zimbabwe, rights, engaging civil society and promoting the
parts of Southern Africa were sliding into a hunger private sector.
crisis. And with poor harvests, conflict and
displaced populations Sudan continued to face a The report called on international donors to
precarious food situation. But even as transitory identify at least a dozen MDG “fast-track”
hunger received attention, chronic hunger remained countries for a rapid scale-up of official
widespread and persistent. development assistance in 2005—and to launch
“quick wins” such as free or subsidized
Major policy events and initiatives of 2005 distribution of chemical fertilizers, free mass
Since the adoption of the MDGs in September distribution of insecticide-treated malaria bednets
2000, poverty has climbed to the top of the global and the expansion of school meal programmes
agenda, leading to a paradigm shift in development using locally produced foods. It argued for a
thinking and economic policies across the globe. In substantial increase in official development
2005 this shift showed up in international decisions assistance and debt relief in support of the global
on aid, debt and trade and in national development development goals. It also called on high-income
strategies and policies. The year saw a remarkable countries to open their markets to developing
array of high-level initiatives for addressing poverty country exports through the Doha “development
and hunger and a new focus on agriculture and round” and help least developed countries raise
rural areas, where most hunger persists. export competitiveness through investments in
critical trade-related infrastructure. And it called
International initiatives on international donors to mobilize support for
In January 2005 the UN Millennium Project, headed global scientific research and development to
by Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, address special needs of the poor in areas of
released Investing in Development: A Practical Plan health, agriculture, energy, climate and natural
10 to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals. resource and environmental management.
Proportion of people living with insufficient food,
1990–92 and 2000–02
Percent
40
1990–92
36 2000–02
33
30
25

20 22
2015 target
18
16
13 13
10 11 10
0
Sub-Saharan Southern South-Eastern Eastern Latin America
Africa Asia Asia Asia and the Caribbean
Source: United Nations. 2005. Millennium Development Goals Report 2005. New York.
2
Poverty and hunger

Also in January 2005 the UN Millennium Project’s Commission for Africa. In March 2005 the
Task Force on Hunger, co-chaired by Pedro Commission for Africa, chaired by UK Prime
Sanchez and M. S. Swaminathan, presented Minister Tony Blair, released Our Common Interest.
Halving Hunger: It Can Be Done, offering a menu of Pointing to the urgency of tackling African poverty
recommendations for interventions at the global, and stagnation, it noted that “on current
national and community levels. It called for policy projections the halving of poverty will come not by
reforms, an enabling environment and priority 2015 but by 2150—which is 135 years too late”. It
measures to increase the agricultural productivity of made strong recommendations in a number of
food-insecure farmers, improve nutrition for the areas—notably governance, capacity building and
chronically hungry and vulnerable, reduce the peace and security—and guidance on the
vulnerability of the acutely hungry through changes needed to reduce poverty. It called for
productive safety nets, increase incomes and make doubling aid to Sub-Saharan Africa—from
markets work for poor people. Hidden hunger US$ 25 billion a year to US$ 50 billion by 2010. It
(deficiencies of such essential nutrients as iron and called for a review of progress in 2010, with a
vitamin A) received much more attention in 2005 possible second stage involving a further
than ever before, and initiatives to address it have US$ 25 billion a year by 2015. For poor countries
been scaled up to large action programmes. in Sub-Saharan Africa, it called for 100% debt
cancellation as soon as possible.
In March 2005 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
presented In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, G-8 Summit. Africa featured prominently at the G-8
Security and Human Rights for All, reviewing Summit in July 2005 at Gleneagles in Scotland.
progress since the adoption of the Millennium Along the lines of the Commission for Africa
Declaration in 2000. He noted that “[T]he promise of recommendations, the G-8 leaders agreed to:
the Millennium Development Goals still remains
distant for many” and that “too few governments— • Double aid for Africa by US$ 25 billion a year
from both the developed and developing world— by 2010, as part of an overall increase of
have taken sufficient action to reach the targets by US$ 50 billion for all developing countries, to
2015”. Annan’s report presented an agenda of the be made possible partly by a series of new
highest priorities for action to be considered at the pledges by G-8 partners in the weeks before
United Nations Summit in September. He called for the summit.
urgent action to recognize the special needs of • Cancel 100% of the multilateral debts of the
Africa, an International Financial Facility to support an highly indebted poor countries, which could
immediate front-loading of official development, and a amount to a total of US$ 55 billion in relief,
worldwide early warning system for all natural and adopt a special package of debt
hazards, building on existing national and regional cancellation for Nigeria, worth about
capacity. US$ 17 billion. 11
Much work remains if the WTO is to
conclude the Doha round as a
development round in 2006
Examples of commitments by individual donors problem of aid quality and the perennial lack of
include: adequate coordination among donors. Such
concerns led more than a hundred donors and
• The European Union pledged total official developing countries to sign up in March to the
development assistance of 0.7% of gross Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, and they
2 national income (GNI) by 2015, with official

development assistance nearly doubled from
agree to establish indicators and targets to
measure aid effectiveness. But by the end of the
€ 34.5 billion to € 67 billion by 2010. Half of year, rhetoric remained ahead of reality.
Poverty and hunger
this increase is earmarked for Sub-Saharan

Africa. UN Summit. In September 2005 world leaders from
• The United States proposed to double aid to some 150 countries came together to celebrate the
Sub-Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2010, 60th anniversary of the United Nations and to follow
through such initiatives as its new up on the outcome of the 2000 Millennium Summit.
US$ 1.2 billion malaria programme and the The September Summit largely reiterated
Millennium Challenge Account. commitments from other summits over the past ten
• Japan committed to increase its total official years, but with the decisions of the G-8 Summit in
development assistance to US$ 10 billion by July 2005, it translated some of the goals into more
2010, while doubling assistance to Africa by specific commitments.
2008.
• Canada pledged to double assistance WTO Ministerial Conference. Despite the impetus
between 2001 and 2010. from increased aid and debt relief at the G-8
• The United Kingdom pledged to double its Summit, G-8 leaders failed to take the crucial step
bilateral spending in Africa between 2003–04 of establishing a schedule for ending rich-country
and 2007–08. agricultural subsidies and reducing their high
• The European Union, Germany and Italy have tariffs. At the Sixth World Trade Organization
timelines to reach official development (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong,
assistance of 0.7% of GNI by 2015, while China, ministers from 149 member countries
France pledged to reach 0.7% by 2012, and gathered in December to discuss concrete
the United Kingdom by 2013. measures to implement the Doha development
round of trade negotiations. A key issue was the
Under the 14th Replenishment of the World Bank’s adverse impact of agricultural subsidies in
International Development Association, donors developed countries on the agricultural trade of
agreed to contribute US$ 18 billion, about a 25% developing countries. After intense negotiations
increase in grants and loans. And according to the European Union agreed to end export
estimates from the UN Office for the Coordination subsidies by 2013 in exchange for U.S.
of Humanitarian Affairs, about US$ 6.13 billion has concessions on food aid. There was no progress
been committed to relief and reconstruction on eliminating rich-country tariffs and quotas on
following the December 2004 Indian Ocean agricultural imports. The rich countries also agreed
tsunami, with more than two-thirds from non- to eliminate, by 2008, quotas and tariffs on most
governmental sources. categories of goods from the world’s 50 poorest
nations—though critics predict the effects will be
But there were no guarantees that these pledges minimal. These decisions saved the conference
would translate into actual new disbursements from total collapse, but much work remains if the
rather than money shuffled from other aid uses. WTO is to conclude the Doha round as a
Moreover, concerns continued about the vexing development round in 2006.
12
The business sector became more
engaged in efforts to achieve the
development goals

National and regional government initiatives promising steps. African governments began to
International initiatives can only set the context for work together effectively through a revitalized
appropriate action at the country level, where African Union and its flagship programme, the New
governments formulate policies, set budgets and Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
establish programmes. In 2005 the world’s largest More than 20 countries have acceded to the
developing countries made significant policy
improvements, driven largely by domestic pressure.
African Peer Review Mechanism. Preparations for
the rollout of NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa
2
China paid more attention to equity, not just growth. Agriculture Development Programme were
Poverty and hunger

Important decisions of 2004–05 included the concluded in mid-2005. Ethiopia and Nigeria
elimination of the tax on farming, increases in cereal recently increased their public investments in
prices and a significant expansion of investment in agriculture and rural areas.
irrigation and agricultural research and
development. In September 2005 the Politburo, Despite frequent references to increasing the budget
China’s top policy-making body, pledged to spread for agriculture, there was still no clarity on monitoring
the benefits of economic growth more fairly among progress. Similarly, monitoring systems to track the
all levels of Chinese society and particularly to close use of increased aid to Africa for the intended MDG-
the gap between urban and rural areas. related purposes remained lacking. Although
Transparency International UK has estimated that
India’s 2005–06 budget allocated substantially capital flight from Africa stands at US$ 150 billion a
more resources for agriculture and rural year—six times the annual flow of aid into Africa—
development, including water resource little attention was paid to stemming, much less
management and education, health and poverty reversing, the trend, despite the known harm to poor
reduction. Under the National Common Minimum people when domestic investment and employment
Programme the government initiated the National suffer. And questions remained about whether
Food for Work Programme in 2004–05 in the 180 African leaders at the highest political levels were
most deprived districts, with the expectation of serious about addressing conflict.
extending coverage in stages to the entire country
within five years. In September India enacted the Business initiatives
Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, guaranteeing The business sector became more engaged in
100 days of employment a year to at least one efforts to achieve the development goals, reflecting
member of each rural household and providing the both a new sense of corporate social responsibility
rural poor with a safety net. India also introduced and a better understanding within the corporate
universal health insurance for the poor and a sector of the potential for good business with the
special group insurance scheme. poor. The world’s fastest-growing new markets
include hundreds of millions of poor people with
Brazil streamlined implementation and substantially vast entrepreneurial capabilities and moderate
increased resources for its Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) purchasing power. Business can develop innovative
programme from BRL 5.7 billion in 2003 to products and new marketing models to serve these
BRL 12.2 billion for 2005. Because of the time markets.
requirements of the budgetary process, it is only now
in 2005, two years after the initiative was announced, In September 2005, for the first time, heads of
that large-scale effects can be expected. major agricultural companies met with the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Africa, which now has more democratically elected Research (CGIAR) to discuss areas of potential
governments than ever before, saw some collaboration for improving the situation of
13
Global civil society campaigns
helped create the political climate
for the positive decisions on
increased aid and debt relief
small-scale farmers. Another indicator of changed Civil society initiatives

corporate social responsibility was a first 2005 was notable for the mass mobilization of
international consultation among senior policy- global civil society in support of development goals.
makers, private sector leaders, non-governmental Campaigns focused on demands for increased aid,
organizations and research institutions on the more debt cancellation and greater justice in trade.
2 food chain in New Delhi, India, under the

auspices of the Federation of Indian Chambers of
The initiatives included the Global Call to Action
Against Poverty, Make Poverty History (United
Commerce and Industry. Pro-poor public-private Kingdom, Ireland, Canada), The One Campaign
Poverty and hunger
partnerships will be developed to unleash win-win (United States), Weltweite Aktion gegen Armut
business opportunities at the bottom of the (Germany), Hottekenai Sekai no Mazushisa (Japan)
pyramid in the dry areas of South Asia. and 2005 plus d’excuses (France). The Live-8
concerts before the G-8 Summit meeting in
After the G-8 Summit, Business Action for Africa, a Gleneagles were the largest ever global events
coalition of international companies working to calling for an end to extreme poverty. The
attract investment to Africa, was launched to campaigners also focused on the UN Summit in
showcase good business practices and influence New York in September and the WTO Ministerial
pro-poor growth and policies. Business Action for meeting in Hong Kong in December.
Development—a partnership of the UN Global
Compact, the International Business Leaders The global campaigns helped create the political
Forum and the UNDP—brought together climate for the positive decisions on increased aid
executives, civil society leaders and development and debt relief. They raised public awareness about
experts to scale up business contributions to the scale of extreme poverty, its moral and political
achieving the MDGs. The UN Department of unacceptability in a world of plenty, and some of
Economic and Social Affairs and the World the key political decisions that must be taken for its
Economic Forum partnered to stimulate progress eradication. Millions of young people engaged in
on some of the interdisciplinary and public-private the campaigns.
problems through a new, informal process to
develop policy alternatives and issue The media, an important actor in civil society, did
recommendations. much to raise awareness and stimulate private
giving after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. But it
In October the public and private sectors came missed the opportunity in 2005 in Niger, whose
together to launch a Business Alliance for Food food crisis was not reported until very late.
Fortification (BAFF) chaired by Coca-Cola, Danone
and Unilever, sponsored by the Global Alliance for Praise and blame
Improved Nutrition in partnership with the World For the poverty and hunger MDGs, praise is due at
Bank Institute. The network aims to ensure a the global level to the UN Millennium Project’s Task
long-term, market-viable supply of fortified foods Force on Hunger for its sound research-based
for the 2 billion people living with vitamin and recommendations and advocacy for action, the
mineral deficiencies that cause untold human Commission for Africa initiated by Prime Minister
suffering and large productivity losses and Blair for energizing major aid and debt relief
curative healthcare costs. BAFF will identify new initiatives for Africa, and civil society campaigns for
financial mechanisms and new business models, assuring that the MDGs stayed high on the global
expand scientific knowledge and expertise in agenda. At the national level, praise goes to
fortification and catalyse joint action by leaders in China, India and Brazil for investing in
companies, development partners and large policy initiatives, such as eliminating taxes on
14 governments. farming in China, initiating a National Employment
For 2006 a key question is whether
promised aid increases, debt relief
and improved trade policy will really
be delivered

Program for the rural poor in India and scaling up governance is improved to deal with conflict,
Fome Zero in Brazil. reduce corruption and strengthen administrative
capacity. Better governance will also help reduce
On the negative side, the lack of response by capital flight from Africa and make the best use of
African organizations and the donor community, whatever aid resources are available. The decisions
despite early warnings, to the deteriorating food
situation in West Africa, particularly Niger, and in
on aid and debt relief for Africa constitute a major
accomplishment, but the Commission for Africa’s
2
Southern Africa, particularly Malawi, is shameful. bold and far-sighted recommendations on
Poverty and hunger

Further cases of concern are countries whose governance and capacity building now merit
human development index moved in a negative commensurate attention. The world needs to find
direction and whose numbers of hungry people imaginative ways of tracking progress (and the lack
increased in recent years. Zambia, Zimbabwe and of progress) and in communicating this to the
Burkina Faso are among them. public, to hold accountable the key actors in both
developed and developing countries responsible for
Looking ahead achieving the MDGs.
For 2006 a key question is whether promised aid
increases, debt relief and improved trade policy will In 2006 and beyond, actors other than
really be delivered. Will the industrialized countries governments must play major roles too. Interesting
seriously accelerate aid flows to developing innovations are taking place in public-private
countries? There are fears that accounting tricks partnerships, but more needs to be done to
may be applied, such as substituting debt relief for provide for better financing and brokering services
new aid, which could mean that few new resources between the public sector, private sector and non-
become available. governmental organizations to serve the poor and
the hungry. Where governments are partnering with
On trade, even a successful Hong Kong WTO business and civil society institutions, there is
Ministerial will not make a big dent in poverty and potential for overcoming the capacity constraints
hunger. There must be more emphasis on and realizing the “quick wins” suggested by the UN
domestic and regional markets, including trade Millennium Project.
among developing countries. More support should
go to organized smallholder farmers—to enable As energy prices rise, the costs of farm inputs,
them improve the standards of their marketed processing and transport go up. Food prices could
output and to gain access to markets. rise too, with varying effects, going even higher if
agriculture becomes a major source of biomass
Most emerging national success stories are in large energy and competition arises between production
countries—Brazil, China and India—with sufficient for food and that for fuel.
administrative capacity and a critical reservoir of
human resources, while developing countries’ poor Overall, poor people were probably better off in
capacity to absorb aid and to implement better 2005 than in previous years, but pockets of chronic
policies remains a very real problem. In Africa poverty and hunger persist. If all stakeholders
particularly, institutional capacity is weak and in ensure that the momentum of 2005 is sustained in
many instances getting weaker, with the escalating 2006, the scores for poverty and hunger can move
“brain drain” and health constraints. But upward significantly. 2006 must be the year of real
implementation will not be effective unless action on the ground.
15
Score
3 Education 4
Goals
• Ensure that by 2015 children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able
to complete a full course of primary schooling.
• Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education,
preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015.
3 Rationale for the score decade saw actual declines in enrolments in some
In 2005 the world took some small steps towards Central Asian and European countries, where
Education
fulfilling the commitments on education made in political transition often brought economic
2000. Rich countries agreed to substantially difficulties that undermined state services.
increase overall development assistance by 2010. Economic and political difficulties in some African
Some developing country governments made real countries, including Equatorial Guinea, Gabon,
progress at the national level. Several developing Kenya, Namibia and Zambia, led to enrolment
countries put forward new action plans for declines of 5% or more. At current rates of
education as part of the Education for All Fast progress, the net enrolment ratio—which stood at
Track Initiative (FTI)—an international partnership 82% of primary-school-age children actually
that promises to bridge funding gaps for poor enrolled in 1990—will increase only to 87% by
countries that develop credible education sector 2015. Nearly 50 countries, mostly in Sub-Saharan
plans. China is revising its “law of compulsory Africa and South Asia, will fall short of achieving
education” to eliminate school fees. In South Asia universal primary education by 2015.
summits of government leaders gave renewed
emphasis to achieving the education goals. Civil Gender parity
society groups mobilized public opinion, spurring In 2005 the world failed to eliminate the gap
government action in these directions. between the numbers of boys and girls in primary
and secondary schools. About a third of all
But 2005 was also the year that we missed the first countries failed to achieve parity in primary, and
of the deadlines outlined in the global goals— nearly two-thirds in secondary. Overall, 94
gender parity in primary and secondary education. countries missed the goal, making gender
The leaders of the rich countries who promised to disparities the rule rather than the exception. Why?
increase aid failed to specify what that aid would Usually because households place less value on
be used for. Donor countries in general failed to educating girls than boys—a reflection of broader
honour their financial commitments under the FTI. inequalities outside the home, particularly
pronounced in the poorer countries of Africa and
The state of education South Asia. On present trends, more than 40 poor
Universal primary education countries, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South
Over the past ten years primary school enrolments Asia, will still not have gender parity by 2015.
were up by some 50 million more children. Some of
the poorest African countries have shown But discrimination in schooling is not an inevitable
particularly rapid progress, with improvements of consequence of poverty. Benin, Chad, Gambia,
more than 20% in Benin, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mauritania, Morocco, Nepal and Yemen all
Gambia, Guinea, Malawi and Mauritania. But some increased the proportion of girls enrolled relative to
100 million children who should be in primary boys by 20% or more after 1990. Bangladesh
school are not enrolled. Population growth in the rapidly achieved full gender parity at the primary
poorest countries nearly matches the increases in level, in part by providing stipends for girls at both
enrolments, meaning that the percentage of primary and secondary level. This not only raised
16 children in school rose only slightly. And the past the level of girls’ participation in schools—it also
Primary school enrolment ratios, girls to boys,
1990–91 and 2001–02
Girls (per 100 boys)

100 2005 target
96 97 98 98
90 93 93
89 90
80 85 86
83 83 82
70 76
60
50

40
30
1990–91
2001–02
20
10
ia
an
ia
a
a
ia
ia
ric
ric
an
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be
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e
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th
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3
La
Education
had other positive side effects, such as enabling in support of country-led plans. It failed even to
girls to marry later and making them more aware of mention that the world had missed achieving
their rights. Tanzania achieved gender parity too. gender parity by 2005, something that should
Both impoverished countries show that policy have received major attention. And the World
changes (in education and other areas) can shift Bank–IMF sessions became consumed with debt
enrolments towards gender parity—sometimes relief, with guidance on likely sectoral allocations
quickly. What is required is greater public of the additional aid.
commitment to this objective, a consistent
approach to reform and the deliberate provision of For education this failure to secure agreement is a
resources to support strategic policy changes. serious lost opportunity. Education needs (and is
ready to absorb) a good bit more money, yet it has
Key events and policies of 2005 historically been underfunded relative to other
In 2005 donor countries made big promises on aid development sectors. Recent work commissioned
and debt relief, as described in the introduction to by UK government agencies has shown that the
this report and in the chapter on poverty and total additional aid needed to achieve the goals of
hunger. They promised to increase overall universal primary education and gender parity will
development assistance by about two-thirds be approximately US$ 10 billion a year over the
(including a doubling of aid to Africa), and they decade to 2015. Total aid to basic education is
agreed to cancel all the debt owed by the world’s now only about 15%, or US$ 1.5 billion a year. This
poorest countries to the World Bank, the IMF and additional investment alone would account for
the African Development Bank. They did not, more than 20% of the total additional aid
however, make any particular commitments on commitments agreed at the G-8 summit at
education. Gleneagles. If agreed, it would help to set the
majority of countries back on track to achieve the
The G-8 meeting in July did not deal with how education goals.
the additional aid resources should be spent.
Such sectoral allocations could have been Donors failed to take advantage of the main
discussed in September at the UN Summit and mechanism for channelling aid to education. The
at the World Bank–IMF meetings a few weeks FTI, established in 2002, is an international
later. But the UN Summit barely managed to eke partnership to accelerate progress towards
out a general document, merely reaffirming the universal primary completion by 2015. It aims to
global commitment to education for all and the achieve this by promoting more efficient aid for
need to provide more resources through the FTI primary education, sustained increases in aid, 17
Net enrolment ratio in primary education, 1990–91 and 2001–02
Enrolment (%)
100 2015 target
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
1990–91
20 2001–02
10
0
ia
an
ia
ns
e
ia
ia
a
a
ia
ia
3
ric
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an
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As
As
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sound sector policies, adequate and sustainable But direct resources for disbursement through the
domestic financing for education and greater FTI over 2004–07 have remained at about
accountability for sector results. It emerged in US$ 300 million, and indirect funding raised
direct response to the promise in Dakar that “no through bilateral programmes probably amounts to
countries seriously committed to education for all little more—small sums indeed, when compared
will be thwarted in their achievement of this goal by with the additional US$ 10 billion required each
a lack of resources”. It was supposed to raise year to achieve the education goals across the
additional resources to support countries with developing world.
credible plans to achieve the education goals. But
donors have provided few such resources. As a 2005 also saw little progress on ways to deliver
result, the programme (located at the World Bank) additional aid. One potential innovation was the
shifted to helping build development partnerships International Finance Facility (IFF) advocated by UK
between donors and recipients to strengthen Chancellor Gordon Brown. This proposed facility—
domestic capacity in education planning and to allow international borrowing against future aid
analysis—and to facilitate increased transfers of aid commitments, underpinned by long-term economic
through the “normal” channels, not through growth in developed countries, and thus at no net
separate, parallel mechanisms. cost to recipients—was advocated as a means of
front-loading aid to speed progress on
The FTI could have done much more. Donors and development. Chancellor Brown argued that
partner countries recognize that it is one of the education would be a particular beneficiary, noting
most important partnerships for delivering on the in a January 2005 Lancaster House speech that
MDGs. The G-8 communique specifically endorsed “with the IFF we can ensure all developing
it, with the aim “that every FTI-elected country will countries have the increased, predictable, up-front
develop the capacity and have the resources funding they need to abolish user fees and enable
necessary to implement their sustainable education more effective teacher recruitment and training,
strategies”. In 2005 the number of countries eligible greater provision of teaching and learning materials,
for FTI funding increased to 16, with as many as 44 improvements to school buildings and sanitation
18 more to be included in the next two years. facilities, and special help to get girls into
Most regions saw a flurry of
activities in 2005, inspired in
part by the schedule of
international meetings

education.” In the event, the United States did not Conference marked the tenth anniversary of the
support the IFF, and several other rich countries Beijing gender conference with discussions of the
remained sceptical of its practicability. A small gender parity goals. The Independent South Asian
European version of the IFF has gained support Commission on Poverty Alleviation set out
and will be used as a pilot for a more development goals that give priority over the next
comprehensive initiative. five years to education. The year saw an expanding
profile of non-governmental organizations directly
3
In addition to their broad role in spurring working with schools and a large number of public
Education
international progress on aid and debt relief, civil advocacy campaigns for primary education. They
society groups continued to contribute directly in reflect the growing global discourse on basic
education. The Global Campaign for Education—a education as a fundamental right, not merely an
coalition of non-governmental organizations and instrument for economic development.
teachers’ unions in more than 150 countries—
mobilized an estimated 5 million children in 113 China moved to revise its 1986 Law of Compulsory
countries to produce 3.5 million paper cut-out Education to introduce an unprecedented notion of
“buddies”. Some 40,000 buddies were presented free education. Since 1985 China’s policy of
to Tony Blair at the outset of the G-8 summit to financial decentralization so successfully mobilized
demand education to end poverty. Later in the local and non-government resources that it led to
year, some 100,000 went to the UN Summit in near-universal attendance and put China close to
New York. achieving the enrolment goals. But decentralization
also created extreme disparities, leaving poorer
Regional and national initiatives regions to rely on themselves to pay the
Most regions saw a flurry of activities in 2005, considerable recurrent costs of education. They
inspired in part by the schedule of international responded by charging fees on various items,
meetings, which required preparation, negotiation though formal tuition is still forbidden by law.
and lobbying at country and regional levels. And Despite repeated government intervention and
developing countries from Kenya to Madagascar to continual public pressure, fee-charging remains a
Moldova put forward education plans that received severe problem—ironically in regions of poverty
the endorsement of the FTI. where schools lack other means to sustain their
operations. Free education entails, however, a
In South Asia representatives from 200 companies minimum cost for local governments and a
met in March to share knowledge and present commitment to students’ rights to education and
lessons from corporate-led initiatives, particularly thus to public resources. Although signifying a
those relevant to the development goals. The fundamental turn in ideology, the new law was
meeting’s closing declaration urged more company nonetheless enthusiastically advocated by the
initiatives in primary education. In India several legislators in the National People’s Congress,
private companies started programmes for perhaps a local reflection of a global movement.
improving thousands of schools across different
states. The Azim Premji Foundation, a charitable Latin America’s progress towards the education
organization set up by the founder of WIPRO, the goals is generally more advanced than that of other
Indian multinational, has invested substantial sums, developing regions. But Nicaragua, Honduras and
working with thousands of state schools across the Guyana are each partners in the FTI, supported by
country to improve quality and introduce finance and technical assistance from the Inter-
information technologies in schools as well as American Development Bank. Identifying and
helping state governments in governance reforms. disseminating best practices in primary
The Fifth South Asia Regional Ministerial education—at conferences in Mexico and 19
2005 leaves something to build on,
with more funding generally
available for development and more
attention to the need to achieve the
global goals
El Salvador—has been a leit motif in the region. In same as those for many other development goals.
September 2005 a high-profile regional study was The G-8 countries deserve praise for making
launched to identify business interest in primary meaningful financial commitments, though the
education, and corporate initiatives for education figures they propose still fall short of what is
continued to develop, mainly in the form of needed to achieve the whole range of development
3 sponsorships and school patronage. But education

remained very low in the priorities of the region’s
goals. Non-governmental organization coalitions,
such as the Global Campaign for Education and
corporate sector, which continued to see this the broader development coalitions, can take real
Education
mainly as social philanthropy. credit for mobilizing public pressure on

governments. But the donors who signed up to the
African debate was dominated by the report of the FTI failed almost completely to honor their
UK Commission for Africa, which advocated a commitments to ensure that developing countries
major increase in international support to education with meaningful education plans would have the
in the region, supported by domestic reform and resources to carry out those plans.
good governance. A number of African countries
moved towards fee-free primary schooling. Looking ahead
Burundi’s newly elected president announced in In 2005 the world missed the deadline for achieving
August that he would make schooling free for all gender parity in education and failed to invest
children. Enrolments nearly doubled in response, adequate resources to ensure that within a decade
and the UK Department for International every child will receive at least a basic education.
Development provided rapid financial assistance to But 2005 leaves something to build on, with more
help Burundi meet the increased demand. Similarly, funding generally available for development and
primary enrolments in Kenya increased by 25% more attention to the need to achieve the global
between 2002 and 2005 following the elimination goals. The necessary steps to watch for in 2006
of fees. In 2005 Kenya won international are as follows.
recognition for its innovative programme to deliver
resources directly to schools. The programme The financial gap between what is needed to
promotes transparency and accountability by achieve the development goals and what is likely to
requiring each school to post its expenditures once be available in developing countries has been
the funds are received. Resource use at the school significantly narrowed, though not removed, by the
level has increased rapidly as a result. new aid commitments announced in 2005. Best
estimates indicate that about 20% of the additional
True, the speed and dimension of change, annual aid of US$ 50 billion promised by northern
particularly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, aid partners needs to be committed to primary
remains muted relative to the size of the task. education to achieve the education goals. Will the
Perhaps buoyed by the economic progress in aid community acknowledge the magnitude of
recent years, at least in South Asia, there was an these gaps and agree to dedicate a significant
emerging sense of optimism among government share of the new resources to education? Will
officials and civil society leaders that primary donors and recipients find good ways to allocate
education goals are achievable within the and deliver the roughly fivefold increase in
internationally agreed timelines. resources?
Praise and blame The FTI could become a key instrument for
Because 2005 focused generally on development, channelling such aid. The bilateral donors have
rather than specifically on the education goals, the agreed to fund partner countries up to the levels
20 leaders and laggards relevant to education are the identified as necessary, but there is no explicit
The momentum developed in 2005
needs to be strengthened by
continuing advocacy and action on
the part of international education
non-governmental organizations

agreement among the donors on who will pay what national expenditures as part of an international
share. Will they reach such agreement and begin to partnership?
honor their commitments, especially as more and
larger developing countries become part of the The momentum developed in 2005 needs to be
process? strengthened by continuing advocacy and action
A reformed aid process needs to demonstrate that

on the part of international education non-
governmental organizations. The Global Campaign
3
countries initiating important reforms for the FTI— for Education has influenced public opinion
Education
such as fee-free primary schooling, which brings towards what could and should be achieved by
many more poor children to school—are strongly international dialogue. Will such successful lobbying
and quickly supported. Kenya, for example, continue?
recently abolished school fees and joined the FTI
during 2005. But the quality of education can suffer The business community has done little to
as enrolments expand. The opportunity to provide promote the education goals. It could do much
quick and substantial increases in aid resources in more, not only by providing direct financial or
such cases would have an important human support, but by advocating national and
demonstration effect for other countries. The international action for education. The quality of
absence of resources could as easily establish an national human resources is a central and direct
opposite dynamic, leading poorer countries to concern of the business sector. Yet business has
conclude that they need not bother putting their engaged in only a few efforts for education,
own very limited resources into education reform particularly in Asia. Will business take on a more
because the rich world will not help. Will countries active role?
that take such difficult but important steps receive
the support they need? 2005 may not have turned out to be a make-or-
break year, it leaves us on the cusp of a decisive
Although the commitment to education is high in moment. Developing countries are making plans
most poorer countries, expenditures on education for—and increasingly adopting—better policies.
in some cases fall well short of the 5%–6% of GDP Civil society groups have mobilized massively in
typical in richer countries. Some of those that fall support of the goals. Donors have promised
particularly short of universal primary enrolment increased support. Will all this come together in a
spend less than 2% of GNP on primary schooling. new and improved global compact for education
Will enough developing countries increase their in 2006?
21
Score
4 Health 5
Goals
• Stop and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria.
• Reduce by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate and by three-quarters
the maternal mortality ratio by 2015.
4 Rationale for the score

Although the world did marginally better in 2005
are trained to work in rural areas. Many trained
people emigrate to countries willing to pay them
than in 2004, moving from a score of 4 to 5, it fair salaries for their skills. And many others die
Health
remains far off track on all its health goals. The from AIDS. The three regions with the worst
minor steps forward in 2005 include: problems—Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and
Oceania—have the least progress and the least
• Renewed attention to global public health chance of catching up to meet the goals.
issues, particularly child mortality.
• A modest increase in resources for malaria Key developments in 2005
and HIV/AIDS. In early November 2005 the U.S. public television
• Significant new funds from Europe and the Bill programme NOVA broadcast a six-part series on
& Melinda Gates Foundation for immunizations three consecutive nights, describing in chilling detail
against childhood diseases. the grotesque inadequacies of the global public
• New resources dedicated to health information health system. It showed, for example, that
systems to better apply resources, to respond Vietnam, with the largest number of human avian
effectively and to monitor and evaluate flu deaths, has no effective surveillance for the
outcomes. disease. Countries most affected by HIV/AIDS have
• The UN Millennium Project’s roadmaps for how little capacity to test for infections or to deliver
to achieve health goals. drugs to those who need them, even if they were
available. More than half the people living in the
These steps, while laudable, are nowhere near poorest countries lack any source of safe drinking
enough to overcome accumulated shortfalls in water. But the broadcast raised awareness in a
global efforts on the public health front. constituency that is key to progress on global
health—the U.S. public.
The state of global public health
The great obstacle to serious progress towards the Time magazine hosted a three-day summit that
global health goals remains the woeful state of the brought together scientists, activists, advocates
world’s public health infrastructure. The trained and celebrities (from Alicia Keyes to Bill Clinton and
personnel, medicine, equipment, physical facilities Bill Gates) to focus on today’s global health
and governance systems to combat infectious problems. The summit stressed that many of those
disease and other threats to public health simply problems, especially those incorporated in the
do not exist to the needed degree in far too many MDGs, can be dealt with today, with existing
places. Many places lack reliable supplies of technology, if only donor nations and the
essential drugs. Basic laboratory testing supplies developing world made the commitments and
and equipment are often unavailable. Health investments they can readily afford.
information systems remain inadequate, making it
impossible to monitor the delivery and coverage of Global public health is now firmly on the global
interventions in a timely and effective way. agenda. But the accomplishments of 2005,
detailed below, remain an awkward patchwork
The poorer countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan of disjointed efforts on a decidedly inadequate
22 Africa, face dire shortages of health workers. Few scale.
The world is far off track to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000)

200
180 185
172
160
140

120 126
100 105
90 87 88
80 83 86
2015 target
78 77 78
60 68
60
54
40 46 48
38 37
32
1990
2004
20 21 21
0
Sub- Southern CIS, Asia Oceania Western South- Northern Eastern Latin CIS, Developing
4
Saharan Asia Asia Eastern Africa Asia American Europe regions
Health
Africa Asia and the
Caribbean
Source: World Health Organization. 2005. Health and the Millennium Development Goals. Geneva.
Maternal and child mortality • The choice of maternal and child health as the
Mothers and children have not fared well on the theme of the 2005 World Health Day.
global agenda. Child survival, a global priority in • The Delhi Declaration on Maternal, Newborn
the 1980s and 1990s, gave way to the and Child Health.
emergence or recognition of other pressing public • The first of a recurring series of international
health problems, from AIDS to tuberculosis. conferences on “Countdown to 2015: Tracking
Dying mothers have never figured high on the Progress in Child Survival”, in December in
list of global health priorities. The good news for London.
2005 was that the world finally seemed to be • A WHO General Assembly resolution on
noticing that half a million mothers and more maternal, neonatal and child health.
than 6 million children die every year— • A series on neonatal survival in renowned
unnecessarily. medical journal The Lancet.
The year started with an important development. But such baby steps represented only minor
The UN Millennium Project’s task force on Child tinkering with business as usual. And business as
Health and Maternal Health issued a call to arms in usual means continuing massive human suffering.
Who’s Got the Power? Transforming Health
Systems for Women and Children, laying out the On current trends the maternal mortality ratio will
initiatives the world should undertake to kick-start not change noticeably, remaining a horrendous
progress and launch a decade of bold ambition. A 400 deaths per 100,000 live births for the world
renewed emphasis on child and maternal health as a whole. Countries where childbirth is most
also appeared in the World Health Organization’s risky are experiencing stagnation or even
(WHO) World Health Report 2005: Make Every reversals. Most developing countries are not on
Mother and Child Count. Important groups decided track for the child mortality goal. Reaching the
to start working together. To increase their target in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia,
efficiency and impact, the Partnership for Safe where the problems are most severe, will require
Motherhood and Newborn Health, the Healthy drastic action. Of the deaths of children under
Newborn Partnership and the Child Survival five, 80% occur in Sub-Saharan Africa and South
Partnership merged into a single Partnership for Asia. Sub-Saharan African has reduced under-
Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health. Other five mortality by only 7% since 1990. And today
advocacy initiatives included: more than 35% of Africa’s children face a greater 23
AIDS spreading, not retreating
HIV prevalence, ages 15–49 (%)

1.4
1.20
1.2
1.0
0.8 0.72
0.68
0.59
0.6 0.51
0.47
0.4
0.30
0.21
0.18
0.2 0.14 0.14
1990
2004
0.07 0.08
0.03 0.03
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
4 0.0
CIS, Latin Southern Oceania South- Developed CIS, Asia Eastern Northern Western
Europe America Asia Eastern regions Asia Africa Asia
Health
and the Asia

Caribbean
risk of dying than they did ten years ago. For a AIDS
number of countries in Sub-Saharan African, this AIDS remained the leading cause of early death in
can in part be attributed to mother-to-child Sub-Saharan Africa and the fourth biggest killer
transmission of HIV and the orphaning of children worldwide, with 3.1 million deaths in 2004,
whose parents have died of AIDS. Instead of including 510,000 child deaths. At the beginning of
reducing child mortality by two-thirds, we are on 2005 an estimated 39 million people globally were
track to reducing it by perhaps one-quarter— infected with HIV, just under half of them women.
meaning that every year 4.5 million children, who No region in the developing world is on track to
would have lived had the goal been taken stop and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. Infections
seriously, will die. are still increasing in East Asia, South Asia, Oceania
and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
It may still be—just barely—possible to salvage the Prevalence rates in Sub-Saharan Africa and the
chance of achieving the goals of reducing maternal Caribbean have stabilized at very high levels, with
and child mortality. If all children under five had the increasing number of deaths from AIDS roughly
access to interventions already known to be matching the number of new infections. HIV/AIDS
effective and feasible for delivery at high coverage spending in 2006 is projected to be US$ 8.9 billion,
in low-income settings, 63% of child mortality could US$ 6 billion short of the estimated amount
be averted. And if all women had access to the needed to respond effectively to the crisis.
interventions for addressing complications of
pregnancy and childbirth, especially emergency In 2005 the compelling need to treat HIV/AIDS
obstetric care, 74% of maternal deaths could be victims had the world’s attention, if belatedly. While
avoided. treatment programmes were reinvigorating medical
communities in such places as South Africa and
But this will require a vastly increased Uganda, prevention received short shrift,
commitment to bolstering public health systems undermining efforts to halt and begin to reverse the
around the world, especially where they are spread of HIV/AIDS. According to the WHO, the
most badly broken. This must be a long-term lack of funds and priority meant that prevention
commitment. It will take time to build the needed programmes reached only one of every five people
physical and human infrastructure. But the goals who needed them. The Joint United Nations
will not be met unless that infrastructure is in Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that
24 place. more than half of available funds should be spent
on prevention and about 20% on treatment, but together and one monitoring and evaluation system
some major funding organizations preferred to to provide necessary feedback to everyone
emphasize treatment. For example, the U.S. involved in the effort to control malaria in a given
President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief country. On the negative side, the Roll Back Malaria
was required by Congress to spend 70% of its Partnership—formed in 1998 through the joint
budget on treatment and palliative care and only
20% on prevention (of which a third must be spent
leadership of the WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank
and national governments—continues to suffer
4
on abstinence programmes of unproven from organizational problems and turf battles
Health
effectiveness). internally and externally, a serious challenge to
major progress against malaria.
Well intentioned donor programmes sometimes
worked at cross-purposes. A major constraint on Most of the steps forward in 2005, while promising,
global health progress continued to be the are more indications of what could be
shortage of personnel capable of providing services accomplished than significant accomplishments in
and managing programmes, and donor funds themselves.
sometimes attracted people to higher-paying
positions elsewhere. Donor procurement practices • Over the past few years, 14 of the 42
that bypass national networks threatened to countries where malaria is endemic increased
undermine national systems that desperately their use of insecticide-treated bed nets
needed strengthening for the long struggle against (perhaps the single most effective means of
HIV/AIDS. Concerns arose that gains in some prevention) by as much as tenfold—but for
countries such as Uganda might be facing many the increase was from so small a base,
reversals due to the availability of anti-retroviral 1%–3%, that they remain far short of the
drugs or changes in prevention strategies. Other target.
countries still needed to bolster and strengthen • The World Bank announced that a Malaria
their AIDS programmes. South Africa’s national Booster Program for Africa will spend
programme, for example, continued to suffer from US$ 500 million over three years, targeted to
a lack of focused leadership. 17 malaria-endemic countries—but the funds
come from existing Bank resources and thus
Malaria represent just a change of priorities, not new
The disease and death burden from malaria funding.
remains very high, with something on the order of • U.S. President Bush announced in July 2005 a
300–500 million infections and a million deaths in President’s Malaria Initiative of US$ 1.2 billion
2005. No technological breakthroughs are needed over the next five years to battle malaria in
to halt and reverse this trend—merely the Africa—but such pledges for development
deployment on available proven effective funding in the past have rarely been met in full.
interventions, for both prevention and treatment.
2005 saw limited progress. Fully 90% of malaria deaths occur in Sub-Saharan
Africa, so any effort to reverse the spread of
On the positie side, more funding became available malaria must focus on this region. Despite real
through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, progress in the delivery of bed nets and
Tuberculosis and Malaria, the major international insecticides, only 15% of African children in malarial
funding mechanism for the global health goals. And risk areas sleep under a bed net, fewer than 5%
new thinking took hold on the need to have one under an insecticide-treated bed net. For the
strategic plan for each country, one national majority of African countries with data, at least half
coordination mechanism to bring all the pieces the children under five with fever are treated with 25
Other diseases
The epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are receiv- Pakistan—and Egypt and India could be polio-free within
ing much attention and more resources as diseases of inter- months. But when local governments in northern Nigeria tem-
national concern. AIDS is the pandemic of the era. porarily suspended polio vaccinations two years ago,
Tuberculosis kills widely, is worsened by HIV, and yet is treat- responding to baseless fears that vaccinations would sterilize
able. And malaria kills an extraordinary number of children, Muslims and cause AIDS, they undermined a US$ 4 billion,
though it is both preventable and treatable with existing inter- 17-year worldwide effort to eradicate a disease that once par-
ventions. A wide array of other parasitic and infectious dis- alyzed 1,000 children each day. Though vaccination resumed
eases, covered in the global goals as “other diseases”, in Nigeria in July 2004, the 12-month hiatus allowed polio to
imposes major health burdens and is often preventable or rebound across the country and re-infect other countries.
treatable at relatively low cost.
The world thus missed its goal of eradicating polio by the end
The international community came tantalizingly close to elimi- of 2005. Thanks to vigorous national and international efforts
nating a major health threat, but in 2004–05 it fell short. Polio by the African Union, with funding from the European
is a highly infectious disease that targets children, invades the Commission, Canada and Sweden, the polio epidemic was
nervous systems and can cause paralysis in a few hours or stopped in ten African countries during the year, and they and
even death. Since the 1988 inception of the Global Polio another 18 African nations launched a “maintenance” pro-
4 Eradication Initiative, which owed much to

International, the number of polio-infected people declined by
Rotary gramme that aimed to vaccinate more than 100 million chil-
dren late in 2005. But at its launch in November, the pro-
Health
more than 99.5%, from 350,000 cases to only 1,262 cases in gramme was short some US$ 200 million. With appropriate
2005. Today, only six countries are the source of the polio funding, it may still be possible to eradicate polio within the
virus—Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria and next year to two.
anti-malarial drugs. In practice, however, coverage partners who represent the major health donors
rates for effective, life-saving treatment are likely to have agreed to promote and use a common
be significantly lower because of late treatment, framework “that sets standards for health
inadequate dosing, poor quality drugs and drug information systems”. This framework also
resistance. includes an assessment and monitoring tool. The
partnership should spur the development of
Information single, country-owned information systems to
A major development in 2005, with implications for replace the multiple systems established to
every health programme, is a new focus on satisfy the peculiar requirements of individual
information as a key ingredient for decision-making. donors. The commitment of the partners and
Many of the statistics and measures cited presumably the countries is to ensure that the
throughout this report are crude estimates. The information collected will be accessible by local,
lack of comprehensive registration of births or regional and global constituencies.
medical certification of death in many countries
forces us to rely on proxy indicators and estimates The year also saw the start of the Ellison Institute
for maternal and child mortality. Estimates of for World Health at Harvard University, funded by
malaria infection and its contribution to illness, Larry Ellison, founder of the Oracle Corporation. Its
debilitation and death are inherently challenging. mission is to “improve population health and the
Although such estimates do provide a general efficiency of health-system resources through the
sense of trends and are good enough to show that regular reporting of inputs, outputs and impacts of
the global public health picture remains bleak, the world’s health systems and major health
better measures would make it possible to do a far funders”. While the objectives of the institute and
better job of mobilizing and targeting resources the network may appear very similar, there are
effectively. important differences. The network is essentially
governmental, while the institute is an independent
To that end the Health Metrics Network, a non-governmental agency concerned more with
US$ 70 million seven-year project funded by the the analysis and dissemination of the information to
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was launched at monitor as well as to effect change in health
the World Health Assembly to assist countries in systems and programmes. In addition, it will be
improving their information systems. The most developing new methods for assessing population
26 promising aspect of the project is that the health.
The question for 2006 is whether
the world will start investing for the
long term, committing resources on
the scale necessary to cope with
these global threats

Praise and blame and the spectrum of preventive strategies
Progress, where it happens, rarely just happens (vaccines, microbicides, social and behavioral
spontaneously. It is the result of dedicated, often strategies).
heroic, efforts by specific people, often acting • Several pharmaceutical firms—for renewed
through specific institutions. And the failure to make attention to developing drugs and vaccines for
adequate progress can also be laid at the feet of
particular actors carrying out particular policies.
which there is likely to be little financial return
from a traditional corporate perspective.
4
Among the most noteworthy actors of 2005 are Examples include Merck’s continued large
Health
those responsible for the successes and failures: investment in an HIV vaccine, a high-risk, low-
financial-reward undertaking, Novartis’s work
Successes: on tuberculosis and dengue fever,
GlaxoSmithKline’s on malaria and tuberculosis,
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—for Astra Zeneca’s on tuberculosis and Pfizer’s on
extraordinary financial and leadership a range of infectious diseases.
contributions across much of the spectrum of
global public health, including long-term Failures and missed opportunities:
investments in malaria vaccines and in
reducing the costs of treatment for AIDS and • The WHO—for its “3 by 5” campaign to treat
other diseases, and its partnership announced 3 million AIDS sufferers with anti-retroviral
late in 2005 with the Global Fund to reduce treatments by the end of 2005, which fell short
the malaria infection rate in Zambia by 75% by more than a million.
over three years. • The United States—for bypassing multilateral
• The UN Millennium Project—for the release of forums intended to coordinate aid on health
its crucial reports: Who’s Got the Power? and for undermining AIDS prevention efforts by
Transforming Health Systems for Women and promoting approaches not supported by
Children; Combating AIDS in the Developing scientific evidence.
World; Coming to Grips with Malaria in the
New Millennium; Investing in Strategies to Looking ahead
Reverse the Global Incidence of TB; and It will not be easy to overcome the major hurdles to
Prescription for Healthy Development: achieving the goals. Because facilities are
Increasing Access to Medicines. crumbling, they require massive investment. But
• Brazil—for its continuing commitment to the goals themselves have proved crucial in
universal access to anti-retroviral medications focusing attention and mobilizing resources. Now
for all of its HIV-infected citizens. Brazil’s that global public health is so firmly on the world’s
response has also been characterized by the agenda, the question for 2006 is whether the world
integration of prevention and treatment, local will start investing for the long term, committing
manufacture of medications and capacity resources on the scale necessary to cope with
building for treatment management. Its these global threats.
prevention programmes are based on
evidence and on principles of reducing harm The UN Millennium Project reports provide detailed
and are community developed. roadmaps of the steps to take across the range of
• The United States—for its important goals. Will those recommendations shape the
commitment to HIV/AIDS research. The 2005 policies of national governments and
budget, more than US$ 2 billion, intergovernmental organizations? Will the private
encompassed the entire range of efforts from sector become broadly involved in promoting the
basic science to epidemiology to therapeutics adoption of good global public health policies, 27
Will the various strategies for
distributing drugs between and
within countries strengthen, or
weaken, national health
infrastructures?
going beyond individual corporate philanthropy? On child survival, the London conference at the
Will civil society groups mount effective advocacy end of 2005 developed measures and targets so
campaigns around these strategies? that governments could be held to account for
specific actions. What will governments do against
Western countries recognize that they are those targets in 2006?
4 contributing to the health care crisis in developing

countries by enticing away medical personnel on a Clearly, ensuring a steady supply of HIV/AIDS
massive scale. Will that recognition lead to medications is essential for anyone started on these
Health
significant efforts to help developing countries keep drugs. Will the various strategies for distributing
their medical personnel gainfully employed at drugs between and within countries strengthen, or
home? weaken, national health infrastructures?
28
Score
5 Environment 2

Goals
• Stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that
would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate
system.
• Reverse the loss of biological resources.
• Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to
safe drinking water and sanitation. 5
Environment
Rationale for the score gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.
In 2005 the continuing lack of serious high-level Over the last 150 years the planet has warmed, and
political commitment to global environmental goals studies reported in 2005, the warmest on record,
earned the world a very low score of two for its have decisively shown that alternative explanations
environmental efforts for the year, one lower than in are insufficient to explain the total change. At present
previous years. Few countries slowed or reduced rates, atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping
greenhouse gas emissions, and prospects for an gases will double from pre-industrial levels by the
effective global effort to reduce emissions significantly middle or end of this century, warming the world
are uncertain at best. No serious frameworks are in between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius.
place to ensure the integrity of the ecosystems that
human societies ultimately depend on. Hundreds of As a consequence, we are likely to exceed the
millions of people still lack access to clean water, and threshold beyond which climate change becomes
very little progress is being made to bring adequate dangerous to millions of people. Already the
sanitation to the 2.3 billion people who now lack it. fingerprints of warming are visible, including the
steady retreat of polar ice over the last 25 years, an
Even in this gloom, flickers of light were unusually intense hurricane season, including the
perceptible. One significant international agreement first recorded hurricane in the South Atlantic, and
on climate change—the Kyoto Protocol—came into the melting of glaciers. Possible impacts include
effect, as did the European Union’s emission rising seas that inundate coastal cities, collapsing
trading system. And many local governments marine ecosystems and even a new ice age in
moved boldly ahead of their national leaders on Western Europe if the Atlantic Gulf Stream current
emission reduction initiatives. The landmark shuts down.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment detailed for the
first time humanity’s impact on nature, providing the The Kyoto Protocol became international law in
foundation for better policies. Asia made significant February with 156 parties, which thereby
strides in providing access to clean water. committed themselves to a global regime for
slowing and adapting to climate change during
Preventing harmful climate change 2008–12. But Kyoto requires only small reductions
Despite compelling evidence, spiraling energy from only a subset of countries, which together
prices, the ratification of a binding international account for less than 30% of total emissions. Not
legal framework and available and proven all these countries were on track to meet their
technologies for efficient and lower intensity energy targets, and the United States, responsible for
generation, global efforts to prevent climate change more than a fifth of all emissions of heat-trapping
remained anaemic. gases, refused to join Kyoto. That refusal and poor
performance by other wealthy nations imperiled
There is no longer any reasonable doubt that humans efforts to motivate rapidly industrializing countries
contribute to climate change by releasing greenhouse like China and India to curb their own emissions.
29
The sustained rise in world energy
prices helped drive substantial new
investment in renewable
alternatives and conservation
2005 did see other efforts on climate change. UK alternatives and conservation. Already in 2004
Prime Minister Tony Blair identified climate change about US$ 30 billion was invested in renewable
as one of the highest priorities for the G-8 summit energy worldwide (excluding large hydropower),
he chaired in July. He included several large compared with conventional power sector
developing countries in the discussions. By investment of roughly US$ 150 billion. The fastest
5 securing agreement for ongoing discussions

among the handful of large economies that matter
growing energy technology is grid-connected solar
photovoltaic, which has seen capacity increases of
most on climate change, he provided an important about 60% a year since 2000. Global wind power
Environment
supplement to the battered Kyoto/UN process. generation capacity has tripled since 1999, with
Also in July the Australia and United States agreed installations in 2004 up 20% from the year before
with China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea and projections for 2005 even higher. Brazil, the
on a framework that consolidates their existing world leader in “flex fuel” motors that can run on
technology cooperation agreements, particularly any combination of alcohol or gasoline, saw sales
around cleaner combustion of coal. No new of such vehicles surpass gasoline-only vehicles in
resources were included in the package. China, August.
which has publicly recognized its need to enhance
the efficiency of its rapidly growing economy, The private sector in developed countries
brought stringent vehicle mileage standards into increasingly recognized that climate change and
effect. In September the European Union and emissions regulations are becoming significant
China agreed on a partnership aimed at developing issues for shareholder value and global economic
and demonstrating by 2020 advanced “zero- stability. A UK coalition of insurance companies
emissions” coal technology, significantly reducing reported in June that even a small increase in the
the cost of key energy technologies, promoting intensity of extreme weather events brought on by
deployment and dissemination and reducing the climate change—and affecting the Europe, Japan
energy intensity of their economies. and United States—might destabilize capital
markets and significantly impede economic
The UN Climate Conference in Montreal in growth. The Carbon Disclosure Project, which
December marked a significant step forward. Most aims to get leading companies to disclose the
developed countries—including Canada, Japan regulatory costs or threats to physical
and those of the European Union—launched new infrastructure from climate change, this year
negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol for binding doubled the assets it represents to more than
emissions reductions beyond 2012. Under the non- US$ 21 trillion. Two-thirds of FT500 companies
binding framework of the 1992 UN Climate took steps in 2005 to assess their climate risk and
Convention, they agreed with the United States to implement strategies to reduce emissions and
begin discussions on the future of the global seize emerging market opportunities.
climate regime. Negotiators streamlined the Clean
Development Mechanism, which allows emissions Carbon became a global commodity with the
reductions in developing countries to be banked launch of the carbon emissions trading market in
and traded internationally. Developing countries, Europe. Such steps are necessary to make
rather than simply pressuring the developed world carbon emissions controllable through market
to do more, became proactive in identifying and mechanisms. Within Europe high energy prices—
supporting domestic efforts to reduce greenhouse and fears that European industry might exceed
gas emissions. emissions targets—boosted prices to € 30 per
ton of emissions, almost three times its price at
The sustained rise in world energy prices helped launch, though trading remains light. Seeing an
30 drive substantial new investment in renewable opportunity to attract more foreign investment,
The Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment, released in 2005,
provided compelling evidence of
our failure to keep pace with the
rate at which we are damaging
nature

Brazil launched its own carbon credit market, and opportunities. It will also reduce its greenhouse
the voluntary Chicago Climate Exchange in North gas emissions by 1% by 2012. In October
America enjoyed growing strength and a higher Wal-Mart president and CEO Lee Scott
international profile. announced ambitious targets, promising to pursue
regulatory and policy changes that will encourage
Globally, however, the carbon trading system was
in its infancy. Under the Kyoto Protocol a “clean
utilities to promote energy efficiency and make it
easier to feed renewables into the power grid. 5
development mechanism” is supposed to allow Wal-Mart also promised to design a green
Environment
companies to finance projects in developing company in China and initiate a program in the
countries, where emissions reductions can be United States to show preference to suppliers that
more cheaply achieved than in their industrial home set their own goals for aggressive emissions
countries, and receive credit for the resulting reductions.
emission reductions. This is intended to drive
foreign investment in cleaner energy and industrial Reversing the loss of biological resources
processes, helping poorer countries to develop Protecting biological resources requires not
faster and more sustainably. In practice, of the 170 simply the preservation of individual species but
projects submitted by July 2005, only 12 had the maintenance of whole ecosystems. The
been approved, with the first emission reductions Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, released in
certified in October. The approval process is 2005, provided compelling evidence of our failure
underfunded and mired in bureaucracy. to keep pace with the rate at which we are
damaging nature. This landmark study, involving
In the United States President Bush’s more than 1,300 scientists from 95 countries
administration found itself more isolated in its over the past four years, offered an audit of our
refusal to take the problem seriously. In June, by management of the planet. It showed that most
a vote of 53-44, the Senate passed a resolution of the 24 ecosystem services key to human well-
stating that “It is the sense of the Senate that being are now being degraded or used
Congress should enact a comprehensive and unsustainably—from fisheries and forests to
effective national programme of mandatory, freshwater resources. The global frameworks for
market-based limits and incentives on emissions conserving natural systems were simply not in
of greenhouse gases that slow, stop, and reverse place, and national policies were moving in the
the growth of such emissions . . .” Lower levels wrong direction. For that reason, we gave the
of government went beyond rhetoric to action. world zero out of ten.
California set emission reduction targets that
would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 Such degradation is not just a matter of losing a
levels by 2010, and cut them to 80% below 1990 few—or even many—cuddly species. Defending
levels by 2050. Nine northeastern states capped ecosystem integrity is key to alleviating poverty,
emissions from some 600 power stations and protecting against natural disasters, ensuring
worked on plans to reduce them by 10% from global public health and redressing some of the
2015 to 2020, while 187 mayors committed to causes of violent conflict. Impoverished rural
reducing municipal emissions by 7% or more. communities depend overwhelmingly on natural
systems and services for survival. That lesson
Individual corporations also acted. General became clear at the end of 2004, when the Asian
Electric, the company with the largest market tsunami did far less damage in coastal areas
capitalization in the world, announced that it will where mangrove forests and coral reefs were
spend US$ 1.5 billion annually on clean intact than where they had been stripped away by
technologies in an initiative to seize market shrimp aquaculture and other development 31
Level of water stress for the global population, 1990 and 2025
Population (billions)
5
3
2025 (no climate change)

2
2025 (climate change)

1
1990
0
Surplus Marginal Stressed Scarce
5 Source: United Nations Environment Programme/GRID-Arendal [www.grida.no/climate/vital/38.htm].

Environment
activities. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina proved so “perverse subsidies”, but little progress was
devastating to the southern United States in part expected from the December 2005 Ministerial
because 1,900 square miles of protective coastal meeting in Hong Kong.
mangrove wetlands had disappeared in Louisiana
since the 1930s. Brazil and Peru decided to start construction of the
long-contested Transoceanic Highway project,
As people push into once-inaccessible wild without appropriate social and environmental
spaces, as they trade exotic species and as they impact assessments or mitigation measures. In
fail to protect animal health, they disrupt existing their absence, this new strategic link to Asian
ecosystems and render themselves more markets will fuel deforestation and human
vulnerable to the spread of disease pathogens, settlement in the Western Amazon. The United
such as avian bird flu, SARS and (originally) HIV. States continued to refuse to become party to the
And as natural resources such as water and soil Convention on Biodiversity, the key global
degrade, their scarcity can combine with other mechanism for ecosystem management, despite
stresses to drive violent conflict—a reality broad business support.
recognized in the award of the Nobel Peace Prize
to a Kenyan environmentalist last year. In 2005 On a small scale, the need to preserve natural
several aid agencies began compiling lessons from sources of key resources, such as drinking water,
environmental efforts for conflict prevention and led to some innovative efforts to pay private actors
reconstruction. to manage the environment sustainably. The
Panamanian government and private investors
Despite the compelling needs, economic incentives worked with ForestRe, a forest insurance company
and policy choices continued to drive human based in London, to restore key sectors of the
behaviour in the wrong directions. Marine Canal’s denuded watershed in order to regulate
ecosystems that supply more than an eighth of the and improve the quality of its fresh water supplies.
world’s animal protein were collapsing everywhere, Preserving the Canal watershed with reforestation
the result of rampant overfishing, pollution and of native species is equivalent to building reservoirs
other factors. Subsidies of US$ 10–30 billion a year and filtration beds for this gravity-operated canal,
overwhelmed modest efforts at conservation. The though at far less cost.
European Union, for example, continued to
subsidize access to other countries’ fish stocks to There were also inroads to the sustainable
make up for overfishing in EU waters. Many of production of commodities. Certified coffee went
these overseas fleets place no limit on harvesting, mainstream this year, as both Kraft and Nestle
in contrast to sharp constraints in domestic waters. launched competing organic or fair-trade products,
The Doha round of international trade negotiations joining the other dominant players Procter &
32 is expected to discuss the need to phase out these Gamble and Sara Lee. But sustainable coffee—
Sanitation coverage lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
Percent of population with access to improved sanitation, 2002

100
80
60
40
Percentage point change, 1990–2002
+9 –2 –1 +15 +8 +6 0 +17 +13 +21 +4 –3

20
0 e er ica
ia
ia
ia
W bea d
ia
ia
ia
ld
s
on
on
ric
n
As
As
as
As
As
an
or
rib a
es n
r
Af
Af
gi
gi
W
ce
a
Eu
n
rn
h
re
re
Ca ic
er
er
rn
O
ou
te
ra
d
ng
st
st
La the
th m
pe
ha
Ea
Ea
pi
A
r
lo
Sa
No
lo
h-
tin
ve
ve
ut
b-
De
De
So
Su
Source: World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund. 2004. Meeting the MDG Drinking Water and
Sanitation Target: A Mid Term Assessment of Progress. Geneva: World Health Organization.
5
including organic, Fairtrade, premium and shade- In 2005 decision-makers began confronting access
Environment
grown coffee—remained a niche market. to water and sanitation with greater resolve. Some
countries, such as Bangladesh, Tanzania and
Delivering water and sanitation Uganda have begun working with stakeholders to
In 2005, 1 billion people lacked access to safe develop sector-specific investment plans and
drinking water, and more than twice that number performance monitoring frameworks. India’s Total
lacked basic sanitation. China and India have been Sanitation Campaign has substantially increased
making significant progress, so the world as a coverage in many rural districts through innovative
whole will likely achieve the goal of halving the marketing practices, sanitation and hygiene
number without safe water, though Sub-Saharan promotion at schools, and needs-based subsidies
Africa will not. On sanitation, following current and technology choices that respond to variations
trends, we will fall 500 million people short of the in socioeconomic levels and water availability. The
international goal by 2012. Because results are so programme aims to cover the entire country by
uneven and because effort on sanitation lags far 2007. Bangladesh set aside 20% of local
below what is needed, we gave the world three out government funds specifically for sanitation
of ten for progress in 2005. provision, and offers additional funding when
independently verified targets are achieved.
Unsafe water is the most common cause of illness
among the poor, killing a child every 15 seconds. In 2005 the UN General Assembly proclaimed the
Half the urban population in Africa, Asia and Latin upcoming ten years as the International Decade of
America and the Caribbean suffers from one or “Water for Life”. Kenya sought this year to enshrine
more diseases associated with inadequate water a constitutional commitment to water and
quality. sanitation access, following similar commitments in
South Africa and Uruguay, although voters rejected
The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative the constitution in a November referendum. A
Council estimates that the water and sanitation coalition of NGOs has taken up the cause of
targets could be met by spending as little as assuring a basic right to water and sanitation, with
US$ 23–60 billion a year until 2015. Today, annual former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev as their
investments total US$ 13 billion for water services spokesman. The United Kingdom announced a
and US$ 1 billion for sanitation. Donor support to doubling of its water spending in Africa. The
this sector has steadily declined for years, now European Union has established a new Water
accounting for less than 1% or so of total aid. Even Facility to provide € 500 million in additional funds
when the fall in overall aid was reversed in 2002, over 2004–07, and the United States has similar
aid to water and sanitation continued to drop, most legislation pending. Finally, the World Bank has
to a small number of countries, only a few of them nearly quadrupled its water and sanitation lending
low-income. Yet many developing countries, since 2002 and will continue to increase its
particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, depend on aid investment in this sector. As with energy, the focus
receipts for the bulk of water-related investments: remained more on supply and waste management
57% of the total in Zambia, 40% in Malawi. than on demand. And the catastrophic release of 33
More than 80% of the world’s population use improved drinking
water sources
Percent of population with access to improved drinking water, 2002

100
80
60
40 Percentage point change, 1990–2002

+6 –2 +1 +8 +2 +6 +5 +13 +6 +6 +9 +1
20
e er ica
ia
ia
sia
W bea d
ia
ia
ia
ld
s
on
on
ric
n
As
As
As
As
an
or
rib a a
ra
es n
fr
Af
gi
gi
W
ce
A
Eu
n
rn
h
re
re
Ca ic
ut
er
er
rn
O
te
ra
d
ng
So
st
st
La the
th Am
pe
ha
Ea
Ea
pi
r
lo
Sa
No
lo
h-
tin
ve
ve
ut
b-
De
De
So
Su
Source: World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund. 2004. Meeting the MDG Drinking Water and
Sanitation Target: A Mid Term Assessment of Progress. Geneva: World Health Organization.
5
benzene into the major drinking water source for Also in 2005 a unique partnership emerged—Water
Environment
Harbin, China, in late November provided a painful and Sanitation for the Urban Poor—to develop
reminder that even countries doing well on water commercially viable models for expanding water
access still face serious hurdles. and sanitation services. Comprising NGOs,
companies, universities and the United Nations, the
One sign of the growing importance of water coalition agreed to design and implement projects
investment this year was the return of the that make a limited profit (capped at 10%) on the
megaproject. Despite well documented negative resources they commit, while balancing cost
impacts of large-scale hydropower, the World Bank recovery for operation and maintenance with
committed to scale up its investments in delivering services to the poor in a participatory
infrastructure in the developing world in a policy and environmentally sound manner. Projects
statement this year, notably for large dams, citing initiated in 2005 target the needs of slum dwellers
the need to respond to urbanization and the in Naivasha, Kenya, and Bangalore, India.
demands for water and electricity. Five African
nations led by South Africa announced plans to Praise and blame
construct the world’s largest dam on the Congo Among the heroes of 2005 were:
River, to spur development and integration across
the continent. In Brazil mass protests and a hunger • The European Union—for its Emissions Trading
strike by a leading bishop forced the government System and other environmental regulation
to delay construction of a water diversion project efforts.
from the São Francisco river to the country’s • China’s State Environmental Protection
semiarid northeast. Administration under Vice Minister Pan Yue—
for efforts to dramatically increase energy and
Avid efforts by donors and development banks to resource use efficiency.
privatize water service delivery in the 1990s led to a • Toyota Motors and Natura Cosmeticos—
sobering lesson—these projects are hard to make for demonstrating the viability of more-
profitable. Companies became unwilling to accept sustainable products, and the Enhanced
reputation risks, exchange rate risks and political Analytics Initiative for driving research on
risks including nationalizations and abrupt contract non-financial risks into mainstream financial
terminations. Even so, the short-term contracting analysis.
out of management of water utilities, such as • General Electric—for its new commitment to
Kampala’s, has in some instances dramatically clean energy and water technology, backed by
improved coverage, collection and productivity. more than US$ 1.5 billion in research
With a view towards a more informed and less investment annually by 2010.
emotional debate, the multistakeholder Global • Wal-Mart—for its new commitment to reduce
Review of Private Sector Participation in the Water its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in seven
Sector began documenting experience in Brazil, years, pursue positive regulatory change and
Indonesia, the Philippines, South Africa and show preference to suppliers that also pursue
34 Uganda. aggressive emissions targets.
The global environmental situation
is bad and getting worse. To change
that depressing assessment in 2006
will require leadership at all levels
and in all parts of the globe

• London Mayor Ken Livingston—for governments provide the right incentives to induce
implementing an initially unpopular but later the private sector to develop and widely market
successful congestion charge. such technologies? Will governments streamline
• Scientist Walter Reid—for conceiving and the Clean Development Mechanism so that it
initiating the Millennium Ecosystem delivers significant emissions reductions while
Assessment. fostering sustainable development in poor
countries? More broadly, will governments start to
5
But the year also saw many laggards: be honest with their publics about the real choices
Environment
we face, and will they start to reward those citizens
• Governments in general—for failing to live up more publicly who already lead “low carbon” lives?
to commitments on emission caps and
biodiversity protection. Regardless of the alternatives, fossil fuels will
• China—for its domestic forest management continue to supply most of the world’s energy for
programme, driving deforestation across Asia. the foreseeable future. Energy demand is expected
• The U.S. government—for reversing progress to rise by more than 50% by 2025, nearly half of
on domestic environmental legislation (Alaskan this in Asia. China alone will add some 500 MW of
National Wildlife Refuge, Endangered Species electricity generating capacity each week until
Act) and stalling international efforts on climate 2020, most powered by coal. There is no shortage
change, sending a global signal that these of proposals for how to cut global carbon dioxide
issues do not matter. emissions by the 22 billion tons experts say is
• The Brazilian and Peruvian governments—for needed by 2050. Those proposals include
approving the construction of the Transoceanic replacing 2 billion of today’s cars with hydrogen-
Highway without undertaking appropriate powered vehicles, reinforcing shifts away from
impact assessments and implementing private car use, sequestering carbon from
necessary mitigation measures. 1,400 1-GW coal-fired power plants and (most
controversially) increasing the world’s current
Looking ahead nuclear capacity by a factor of ten. Will the world
The global environmental situation is bad and begin to undertake adequate investment in clean
getting worse. To change that depressing energy technology and carbon capture?
assessment in 2006 will require leadership at all
levels and in all parts of the globe. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment included a
report, released in November, on response options,
The lack of adequate and effective action on showing that sustainable management of
climate change in the face of clear evidence of ecosystems will require substantial changes in
damage already under way brings to mind institutions and governance, economic policies and
uncomfortable thoughts of Nero fiddling while incentives, social and behavioral factors, and
Rome burned. But there are initiatives worth technology and knowledge. Will governments make
building on, initiatives that may become politically the needed policy changes?
easier if oil prices stay at high levels. Will other
governments follow the European Union’s lead to Another report from the assessment, released in
establish an effective emissions trading system for July, laid out related opportunities and challenges
greenhouse gases? Will more local and regional for business and industry, which depend on the
governments take the kind of action seen within services provided by ecosystems. Some in the
the United States in 2005? Will more business private sector have already begun to act. Perrier-
leaders follow the example of General Electric’s Vittel, for example, has begun paying farmers to
new devotion to clean technology? Will adopt modern techniques and organic practices 35
to preserve the quality of its water sources. evidence. The public sector’s tremendous
Moreover, the world’s major pension funds are purchasing power should be oriented preferentially
awakening to the long-term risks from towards more-sustainable products and services,
environmental mismanagement. Both risk providing a tipping point for these niche products
avoidance and new market opportunities could to move into the mainstream. This would
5 drive action on the part of publicly traded

companies on issues ranging from climate change
complement regulation and public recognition for
corporate leaders. Civil society and the media need
to water use and to green innovation. to do a better job holding public and private
Environment
decision-makers accountable for these actions,

Certainly we are seeing less rhetoric and more and educating individuals about the consequences
action from key companies, but will the broader of their consumption choices.
private sector heed the warning?
Many more governments and companies need to
Moving from these individual initiatives to change at switch on to the urgency of environmental
the scale needed requires political leadership. concerns. Only through collaboration can
Public sector capacity to regulate, facilitate and governments ensure that services like water supply
provide services needs to be strengthened and and sanitation are provided universally and equitably
supported. Governments must tackle corruption and that environmental challenges are tackled
that undermines poverty reduction efforts and effectively and efficiently. When incentives align, the
adopt legislation in the face of solid scientific private sector will participate—or even lead the way.
36
Score
6 Human rights 2
Goals

• End genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
• Ensure counterterrorism measures protect human rights and the rule of
law.
• Recognize and implement the international guarantees of economic,
social and cultural rights.
• Ensure that trade and business policies do not impoverish people or
weaken human rights.
6
Human rights
Rationale for the score cultural rights, sometimes receiving the backing of
2005 continued the trend, evident since 2001, of a courts for their claims. But the rights of the poor
retreat on human rights. The score fell to two this received short shrift in international trade policy.
year because relevant institutions failed to address
chronic problems. Denials of human rights became On the business front, last year’s polarization over
a more entrenched part of national political rhetoric, proposed UN norms on the human rights
as evident in state behaviour on counter-terrorism responsibilities of business temporarily eased, with
and labour standards. Internationally, governments agreement to appoint a UN Special Representative
fought bitterly over whether to create a new UN charged with helping to clarify standards for
Human Rights Council with more authority and business. In Europe business faced new
teeth to replace the discredited Commission on accountability requirements, as an EU directive
Human Rights, agreeing only on the name but not required companies to report on the social impact
the substance of a new body. of their activities, while individual European
governments imposed even more stringent
The world inched selectively closer to ending reporting requirements.
impunity for massive human rights violations, as the
International Criminal Court issued its first warrants 2005 in review
and former political leaders from Chad, Chile, Ending genocide, crimes against humanity and
Liberia and Serbian Bosnia were more likely to face war crimes
justice for their crimes. But in Darfur, Sudan, The agreement on the principle of the
millions continued to suffer while their attackers international community’s responsibility to protect
enjoyed total impunity. And one effort at civilians at the UN World Summit in September
accountability—the precedent-setting trial of former represented an important breakthrough. But too
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein—raised questions many people remained unprotected, and too
about the justice and fairness of its process. often the international community was
sidetracked into semantic squabbles. In February
With new terrorist attacks, governments justified 2005 a UN commission of inquiry found that
restrictions on such fundamental rights as freedom Janjawiid militias, supported by the Sudanese
from torture and freedom of expression, all in the government, had “conducted indiscriminate
name of counter-terrorism. More countries were attacks, including killing of civilians, torture,
ready to expel more people to countries where they enforced disappearances, destruction of villages,
faced torture, to hold suspects in secret detention rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging
centres or to accept intelligence information and forced displacement”. It did not find a
gathered through torture. genocidal intent, but sought to avoid semantic
excuses for inaction by underlining that “the
Marginalized and vulnerable groups increasingly crimes against humanity and war crimes that
rejected charity in favour of claiming their whole have been committed in Darfur may be no less
range of rights, including economic, social and serious and heinous than genocide”. 37
The year saw positive steps to put
into practice the principle of
universal jurisdiction
In response to the report in March the UN weapon can have a similar effect to napalm,
Security Council took the unprecedented step of which was banned by a 1980 treaty (which the
referring Sudan to the International Criminal Court United States has not ratified).
for investigation and possible prosecution of
individuals responsible. Yet the Sudanese But 2005 also showed signs of progress on
6 government refused to cooperate with the court.

Attacks on civilians continued, despite the
international justice. The International Criminal
Court issued its first ever warrants against five
belated and modest deployment of African Union leaders of the Ugandan rebel organization, the
Human rights
peacekeepers. At least 2 million people still Lord’s Resistance Army, accused of war crimes
required emergency aid. In October the UN and crimes against humanity. It seemed more likely
Secretary General’s Special Advisor on that the Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadžić
Prevention of Genocide, Juan Mendez, warned of and Ratko Mladić would be arrested and brought
the continuing “culture of impunity” in relation to to trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for
Darfur and a lack of “serious good faith” on the the Former Yugoslavia. In a shift of policy the
government side. Serbian government began to cooperate with the
Hague tribunal. In Cambodia, after years of political
In October the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven prevarication and despite continuing concerns
co-defendants, charged with killing more than 140 about the procedures, the Extraordinary Chambers
people in Dujail, Iraq, in 1982, opened in Baghdad. for Prosecution under Cambodian Law of Crimes
The positive message—of accountability and an Committed during the Khmer Rouge Period moved
end to impunity—was tempered by strong towards bringing human rights violators to justice
misgivings about the process. Created originally by after more than a quarter century.
the U.S.-led occupying forces, the court faced an
uphill struggle to prove that it could operate Pressure mounted on the Nigerian government to
independently and deliver calm, fair and impartial extradite former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor to
justice amidst escalating violence, including the stand trial before the UN-mandated Special Court
murder of two defence lawyers. Concerns in Sierra Leone—on 17 counts of contributing to
persisted about the precedents that might be set the murder, rape and mutilation of thousands of
for Iraq and the wider Middle East, including the people during the Sierra Leone conflict. In
lowering of the standard of proof, the problems November, in a lawsuit brought by two amputees
with access to defence, the lack of a right to from Sierra Leone, the Nigerian Federal High Court
appeal and the potential imposition of the death threw out government objections to the court
penalty after one trial, preventing accounting for reviewing the asylum granted by the Nigerian
many other crimes. government to Taylor.
The conflict in Iraq raised concerns about The year also saw positive steps to put into
possible war crimes. No authoritative practice the principle of universal jurisdiction—that
investigation examined allegations that the United those who commit international crimes can be
States breached the Geneva Conventions by tried anywhere in the world, making it possible to
targeting hospitals in its November 2004 attack bring human rights violators to justice even if their
on Fallujah. Iraqi human rights groups also home countries cannot or will not prosecute. In
alleged that Fallujah was the victim of collective Canada in October Rwandan national Désire
punishment. In November 2005 the U.S. military Munyaneza became the first person to face trial
admitted, after earlier denials, that it had used under a four-year old Canadian universal
white phosphorous weapons in Fallujah. If used jurisdiction law, for alleged involvement in the
38 as an incendiary anti-personnel device, this 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In Senegal the legal
Governments often responded to
terrorist threats by restricting rights
and weakening vital protections

struggle intensified to have former Chadian suspects must be balanced against the need to
President Hissène Habré extradited to Belgium, protect ordinary citizens. But under the UN
15 years after he fled to Senegal, to face trial for Convention against Torture the prohibition of torture
killings, torture and other crimes during his eight- is absolute. When that wall is breached, the
year rule. In Latin America Agusto Pinochet was consequences are predictable. A refusal to be
charged for human rights violations when he ruled
Chile, and former Peruvian President Alberto
choosy about the origins of intelligence and the
naïve acceptance of assurances from governments
6
Fumimori was arrested in Chile and faced possible with poor records on torture rapidly mutate into the
Human rights
extradition to Peru. active encouragement of torture. There was
continuing evidence in 2005 that the United States
persisted with its policy of “extraordinary
Terrorism, counter-terrorism and the rule of law rendition”—that is, handing suspects to “friendly”
The year saw major terrorist outrages in Amman intelligence services, which then torture them and
(Jordan), Bali (Indonesia), London (United hand over the information gathered. Controversy
Kingdom), New Delhi (India) and Cairo and Sharm exploded over alleged U.S. secret detention
el-Sheikh (Egypt). In the ongoing intense debate centers in Europe and whether European
between those who argue that human rights need governments had acquiesced in allowing the
to be limited in the struggle against terrorism and United States to run them.
those who maintain that democratic values are
best upheld by a staunch commitment to human Within the United States new opposition arose to
rights, 2005 saw early signs of a rhetorical shift at the Bush administration’s apparent willingness to
the international level from the former to the latter. allow torture. Congress considered a bill reaffirming
The International Summit on Democracy, Security the prohibition on torture and ill treatment by U.S.
and Terrorism, in Madrid in March, stressed the forces anywhere in the world. The administration
fundamental role of human rights and the rule of argued that the Central Intelligence Agency should
law in anti-terror strategy. be exempt and threatened to veto the bill, but
relented as it became clear that the bill would not
But in practice, as in previous years, governments pass both houses with veto-proof majorities.
often responded to terrorist threats by restricting Although low-level personnel were convicted of
rights and weakening vital protections, creating abuses at Abu Ghraib and one general was
victims of counter-terrorism to add to the victims of relieved of her command, the United States
terrorism. Governments were more willing to expel undertook no action to address the systemic
foreigners to countries where they risked torture. attitudes that led to the Abu Ghraib torture.
The UN Committee against Torture criticized
Sweden for deporting to Egypt a man suspected of Excessive counter-terrorism measures are hardly
involvement in terrorism, because Egypt’s unique to the United Kingdom and the United
diplomatic assurances were not adequate States. They have long plagued such countries as
protection against torture, a widespread practice Colombia, Egypt, India, Israel, Malaysia and the
there. Austria, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands Russian Federation. Serious human rights concerns
and the United States all sought to engage in were expressed during the year about proposed or
similar deportations. adopted new counter-terrorism laws or other
actions in the name of fighting terrorism in
The United Kingdom and other governments countries across all regions, including in Australia,
appeared willing to use information gathered Bahrain, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Italy, Jordan,
through torture, even if they ban the practice at Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Maldives, Philippines,
home, on the rationale that the rights of terror Swaziland, Thailand and Uzbekistan. 39
Migrants continued to be especially
vulnerable to legal restrictions on
their rights in the more xenophobic
atmosphere of the “war on terror”
China announced that it would adopt an Anti- discriminatory and in breach of the European
Terrorism Law by the end of 2005. None of the Convention on Human Rights. Rejecting
provisions under consideration has been made government policy, the House of Lords outlawed
public. China has been conducting a repressive the use, in any court, of evidence obtained by
anti-terrorism campaign in the Autonomous Region torture, even when no UK authorities are involved.
6 of Xinjiang, home to 8 million Turkish-speaking

Uighurs. But in Canada the pendulum may have
In Chile a criminal court acquitted Mapuche
indigenous leaders who had been inappropriately
begun to swing the other way, with mandates for charged under anti-terrorist legislation for protesting
Human rights
two reviews of laws brought in shortly after encroachment on their ancestral lands. In Israel in
September 2001. September the Supreme Court again held that
parts of the Separation Barrier, justified because of
In the name of fighting terrorism several suicide bomb attacks, inflict disproportionate and
governments, including Nepal, Thailand and the acute hardship on Palestinians and must be re-
United Kingdom, adopted new laws to restrict routed. But the court rejected last year’s
freedom of expression. Freedom of expression International Court of Justice opinion that the
(unlike torture) is not absolute under international barrier could never be built on Occupied Territory.
standards, which explicitly prohibit incitement to
hatred and violence. Governments suggested that From charity to rights
advocating a political platform close to that of the During the year several marginalized or vulnerable
terrorists constitutes incitement. But human rights groups argued that they have minimum economic,
standards require a much closer causal link social and cultural rights that cannot be violated
between the words spoken and the likelihood of and that they should be able to claim remedies
terrorist acts being carried out. Only after sustained from courts and governments for breaches. The
opposition did the UK government slightly modify a global disability movement led the way in moving
proposal to make a criminal offence of “glorifying” from charity to rights. The argument that they must
terrorism—which might have prevented support for be able to claim their rights to live in dignity drove
former South African President Nelson Mandela rapid progress in 2005 towards a new United
had the law been in force during apartheid. Nations human rights treaty on the rights of the
disabled.
Migrants continued to be especially vulnerable to
legal restrictions on their rights in the more International treaties ratified by many countries
xenophobic atmosphere of the “war on terror”. The already set out the range of economic, social and
entire framework of international refugee cultural rights—to education, health, shelter, food,
protection—the right to seek asylum from social security and so on. Yet some governments—
persecution—was under sustained attack. The a shrinking minority—do not recognize the validity
Global Commission on International Migration, in its of these rights. Some are concerned that these
final report issued in October, set out six principles rights represent a hostile political agenda. The
for action, which could help strengthen the rights treaties do not specify exactly how or when the
and protection of migrants around the world. rights should be realized, though they do imply that
the unfettered operation of the market may not
Although courts faced pressure to fall into line with always be adequate to achieve such rights.
executive policies, some reasserted their vital role
as a check and balance. The UK government was The focus of the G-8 summit in Scotland in July—
forced to abandon the indefinite detention of on debt cancellation, poverty reduction and trade—
foreign terrorist suspects without trial after the again highlighted the claim of rights over charity.
40 country’s highest court declared it was Two alternative visions of how the developing world
Courts in many countries, such as
Brazil, India and South Africa,
increasingly enforce people’s
rights to water, shelter, health,
education and other basic rights

can lift itself out of poverty were presented. On shelter, health, education and other basic rights.
offer was US$ 40 billion in debt relief (compared Governments are wary of courts usurping decision-
with total debt of US$ 2,400 billion in all developing making, with possibly enormous budgetary
countries and US$ 300 billion in Africa). In implications. But courts are insisting more narrowly
exchange the G-8 deal required further economic that governments comply with constitutional
liberalization and cuts in government spending. In
practice this would benefit countries already
guarantees or strictly adhere to their social policies.
6
engaged in structural reforms approved by the IMF Two recent court decisions in India illustrate how
Human rights
and the World Bank. Governments hailed the G-8 corporations also need to prevent their activities
deal as a triumph for Africa. But anti-poverty from harming the economic, social and cultural
campaigners from developing countries actively rights of communities their operations affect. Amid
advocated their own view, articulated in the allegations that Coca-Cola’s operations in India
language of rights and social justice, not of have caused severe water shortages and produced
development and reform. Not by coincidence, contamination, the Rajasthan High Court ruled at
these campaigners adopted a slogan from the the end of 2004 that all soft drinks should state the
disability rights movement: “Never about us without level of pesticides on the product label. Coca-Cola
us”. The view from developing countries was appealed, arguing that small traces of pesticide
generally that the types of policy reform tied to debt were not harmful. The court rejected the appeal,
cancellation were themselves sources of poverty, saying, “commercial interests are subservient to
not routes out of it. fundamental rights”. In Kerala, where the local
community opposes Coca-Cola’s largest bottling
In June the Committee on the Rights of the Child plant in the country because of alleged damage to
warned that free trade agreements could have a the water system, the state High Court ruled that
negative impact on access to affordable medicines groundwater belonged to the people. The
and social services for the poor. The expert government had no right to allow a private party to
committee raised its concerns as a number of extract huge amounts of groundwater, “a property
countries were in the process of negotiating or held by it in trust”.
ratifying free trade agreements, including Costa
Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua and the Philippines. Impoverishment and human rights
Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child The debate prompted by the G-8 summit relates to
countries have an obligation to consider the best the very nature of poverty. It centres on whether
interests of the child in all their decisions, including poverty is a state in which a large part of the
trade policy. The Swiss company Roche’s world’s population unfortunately finds itself—or a
negotiations with generic drug manufacturers for process of impoverishment, where disadvantage
the cheaper production of Tamilflu to combat avian and dependency are constantly renewed. This
flu further supported the argument that the debate is fundamental, since it goes to the
internationally recognized right of everyone to the international obligation to realize economic and
highest attainable standard of health should social rights in the International Covenant on
sometimes override profit-making. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
A central plank of the argument that economic, In 2005 concerns arose that the abolition of the
social and cultural rights are not proper human Multi-Fibre Arrangement in January could have a
rights is that they are too vague and imprecise to disastrous impact on the rights of workers in many
be adjudicated by courts. In reality, courts in many poorer countries. By deregulating export of
countries, such as Brazil, India and South Africa, garments to Europe and the United States, the
increasingly enforce people’s rights to water, abolition of the arrangement is likely to shift millions 41
This year saw significant new
attacks on the urban poor’s
right to shelter
of jobs from formerly protected producers, such as This year saw significant new attacks on the urban
Bangladesh, to cheaper producers, particularly poor’s right to shelter. The most widely condemned
China and India. That shift is also likely to put was the Zimbabwe government’s Operation
pressure on labour standards and working Murambatsvina (“Operation Drive Out Trash”),
conditions as the formerly protected countries which began in May. Some 700,000 people were
6 desperately try to compete. deprived of their homes or livelihoods, as officials

destroyed ostensibly illegal structures in urban
Governments seek to attract investment through areas. The houses or businesses had often been
Human rights
free trade zones or export processing zones that built with the explicit encouragement of national or
sometimes undercut minimum wage levels, reduce local government. An unusually hard-hitting UN
other benefits and limit or prohibit collective investigation concluded that the “indiscriminate and
bargaining. Women often make up the majority of unjustified” evictions violated national and
the workforce in free zones. They are paid less and international human rights standards and plunged
are less likely to be organized in trade unions. In already poor communities “deeper into poverty,
June, following a formal complaint by the deprivation and destitution”. Murambatsvina
International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ appeared to have an explicit political purpose:
Federation, the International Labour Organization expelling urban supporters of the main opposition
(ILO) struck down the government of Bangladesh’s party. Yet disputes over access to urban land and a
blanket ban on trade unions in its export governmental desire for clean and glittering cities
processing zones until 2006. The committee mean that the phenomenon is widespread,
recalled that workers in export processing zones including neighbouring South Africa and several
should enjoy the trade union rights guaranteed in major Asian cities.
the ILO’s conventions on freedom of association.
Praise and blame
Where national laws do not meet international Praise:
standards on such issues as the right to collective
bargaining or the protection of the land tenure rights • For legal efforts to battle impunity and
of women or of indigenous peoples displaced in uphold human rights law: civil society
large development projects, corporations have groups for seeking extradition of perpetrators
found that they are still expected to respect such of international human rights crimes; the
rights. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation International Criminal Court for steady work
and Development’s Guidelines for Multinational leading to its first warrants of arrest; 11 retired
Enterprises, for example, calls on corporations to U.S. military leaders for supporting a Senate
“respect the human rights of those affected by their bill that reaffirmed the prohibition of torture or
activities consistent with the host government’s ill treatment by U.S. forces.
international obligations and commitments” • For efforts at promoting economic and
(emphasis added). In September Yahoo claimed it social rights: the disability movement and
was merely abiding by local laws when it helped anti-poverty protestors from developing
Chinese police identify a local journalist who used a countries for arguing the need for social justice
Yahoo account to send to foreign websites official and human rights rather than charity.
instructions that his newspaper had received in the
lead-up to the 15th anniversary of the killings in Blame:
Tiananmen Square. The journalist has been
imprisoned for ten years for leaking state secrets, in • For attacks on human rights law: the
clear violation of international standards on the United States, United Kingdom and other
42 freedom of expression. governments for attempting to dismantle the
It is urgent that in 2006 the
international community calls a
halt to the normalization of policies
and actions hostile to respect for
human rights

absolute prohibition of torture and ill treatment • Will governments give substance to the
in the name of fighting terrorism. conclusion of the International Summit on
• For terrorist attacks: the groups Democracy, Security and Terrorism in Madrid
responsible for killing hundreds around the in March 2005 that human rights are central to
world in bombings in countries including building secure societies where people are
Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan and the
United Kingdom. •
safe from terrorism?
Will governments reaffirm the absolute
6
• For massive attacks on hundreds of prohibition on torture and ill treatment? Will
Human rights
thousands of people: governments they stop sending suspects back to countries
including the Sudanese government (and the where they risk being tortured and stop using
Janjawiid militia) for continuing attacks on information extracted by torture in third
civilians in Darfur—and the Zimbabwean countries?
government for forcibly evicting 700,000 • Will the Guantanamo Bay detainees be able to
people in its cities. challenge the legality of their detention in a
U.S. court?
Looking ahead • Will the recommendations of the 2005 Global
It is urgent that in 2006 the international community Commission on Migration be implemented?
calls a halt to the normalization of policies and • Will the impact of the abolition of the Multi-
actions hostile to respect for human rights. Fibre Arrangement be closely monitored and
Developments to watch for: action taken to protect workers and
communities in countries that lose vital textile
• Will there be effective steps to end systematic and garment contracts and investments?
violence against civilians in Darfur, and will the • Will human rights impact assessments be
International Criminal Court receive the political carried out before free trade agreements are
support to prosecute those responsible? concluded?
• Will former leaders Charles Taylor of Liberia, • Will the hundreds of thousands of people
Hissène Habré of Chad and Radovan Karadžić wrongly evicted from their homes in Zimbabwe
and Ratko Mladić of Bosnia be extradited, and and other countries receive reparation and
will they and former Khmer Rouge leaders face justice?
trial? • Will business, civil society and governments
• Will the trial of Saddam Hussein and his co- agree on the human rights standards that all
defendants deliver impartial and fair justice or businesses should abide by and on what this
be a political show? means in practice for their behaviour?
43
Photo credits:
All photographs are from Panos Pictures, London,

unless otherwise noted.
Cover (clockwise from top-left): Gerd Ludwig, Gerd

Ludwig, Aubrey Wade, Tim Driven
Introduction: Aubrey Wade, UPPA/Photoshot
Peace and security: Giacomo Pirozzi, Teun Voeten
Poverty and hunger: Aubrey Wade, Crispin

Hughes, Tim Driven
Education: Gerd Ludwig, Mark Henley, Petterik

Wiggers
Health: Pep Bonet, Pep Bonet, Pep Bonet
Environment: Gerd Ludwig, Aubrey Wade, Julio

Etchart, Mark Henley
Human rights: Andrew Testa, Sven Torfinn

Preface iv
Executive summary v
Introduction ix
Peace and security 1

Poverty and hunger 9
Education 16
Health 22
Environment 29
Human rights 37
The views expressed in the articles in this publication do not necessarily reflect
the views of the World Economic Forum.
© 2006 World Economic Forum
ISBN 0-9741108-9-2
Designed, edited and produced by Communications Development

Incorporated, Washington, D.C., with Grundy Northedge, London
COMMITTED TO
IMPROVING THE STATE
OF THE WORLD

The World Economic Forum is an independent

international organization committed to improving
the state of the world by engaging leaders in
partnerships to shape global, regional and
industry agendas.
Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based

in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic
Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to
no political, partisan or national interests.
(www.weforum.org)
Annual Report 2006
Annual Report 2006
World Economic Forum

Nike, Inc.

Global Governance Initiative: Annual Report 2006

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COMMITTED TO

IMPROVING THE STATE

Global Governance Initiative

The World Economic Forum is an independent

Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based

Annual Report 2006

Annual Report 2006

World Economic Forum

Peace and security 1

© 2006 World Economic Forum

Designed, edited and produced by Communications Development

Developed in partnership with

Education Human rights

Gene Sperling, Director, Center for Universal Education, Council

Maria Eitel President, Nike Foundation

Surin Pitsuwan Member of Parliament, Royal Thai

Maurice F. Strong President, University for Peace, and

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Goals and scores in Human Security Report 2005 demonstrates how

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Global Governance Initiative 2006

act. The UK government, in assuming its

Global Governance Initiative 2006

1 Peace and security 3

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Peace and security

Number of armed conflicts

Political violence declines worldwide:

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Peace and security

monitoring capability and credibility Fatalities

of the Kimberley Process, the 1250

UN-backed voluntary initiative

1 a. From 1 January to 31 October.

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Peace and security

Eliminating weapons of mass destruction September did witness significant movement—or

Number of casualties (dead and wounded)

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Peace and security

1 that left more than 700,000 slum dwellers

• Nepal’s King Gyanendra—for his February conclusion.

2 Poverty and hunger

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Rationale for the scores

Poverty and hunger

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Poverty and hunger

2 national income (GNI) by 2015, with official

this increase is earmarked for Sub-Saharan

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Poverty and hunger

small-scale farmers. Another indicator of changed Civil society initiatives

2 food chain in New Delhi, India, under the

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Poverty and hunger

Girls (per 100 boys)

Global Governance Initiative 2006

Global Governance Initiative 2006

3 sponsorships and school patronage. But education

mainly as social philanthropy. credit for mobilizing public pressure on

Global Governance Initiative 2006

A reformed aid process needs to demonstrate that